Seven Sussex families have been touched by the New York terrorist attack, The Argus can reveal.

Some are in New York and others are planning to fly there.

Few have any hope their loved ones will be pulled out alive more than two weeks after the disaster.

The families are receiving help and counselling from a team of 24 British police officers based in the city specifically to lend assistance and comfort.

One is Sussex Detective Constable Clinton Novell, a trained family liaison officer.

Speaking from New York, he said the families were aware that hope had all but gone.

He said: "The authorities here have acknowledged this is no longer a rescue mission but a recovery.

"The families first arrived here with hope and many wanted to visit hospitals but they were told there were no unidentified survivors remaining."

He said the families were now going through a whole range of emotions, adding: "One minute they will be contained and the next minute they are in tears.

"It is a heart-breaking situation for them."

Mr Novell, based in a downtown hotel, met many of the families as they arrived at city airports. Some flew there with financial help from the Government.

He said: "We helped them check into hotels and if some want to get close to the scene then we arrange it.

"We try to meet their needs and the New York police have been fantastic in accommodating us.

"The site itself is bleak and horrific. You can't get into it because it's a crime scene but you can see it from a distance.

"From my hotel room I would have seen the twin towers but now there is just a cloud of smoke."

Among the Sussex families in the city are relatives of Robert Eaton, whose parents live in Ditchling.

The 37-year-old former Brighton College pupil and avid Brighton and Hove Albion fan, who has three sisters and is married, was working in one of the towers.

Matt Campbell, of Woodslands Road, Hassocks, was on holiday in Lanzarote when he heard the news. His 31-year-old brother, Geoff, worked on the 106th floor.

Mr Campbell was among hundreds of relations planning to travel to New York in the hope of finding Geoff alive.

Sussex University graduate Karlie Rogers is also among the hundreds of Britons missing, feared dead.

The 26-year-old, who studied German at the university, was due to take part in a conference on the 106th floor.

Families in the Peacehaven-Telscombe Cliffs area and from Chichester are also thought to have lost loved ones.