Brokers Marsh & McLennan Cos (MMC) and Aon Corp, which both had substantial workforces in the two World Trade Center towers, have issued updates in the wake of last week's attacks - but there is still no sign of missing Bermudian Rhondell Tankard.

MMC said 313 of its employees who worked in its offices in the complex are missing, and two are confirmed dead.

Separately, Aon Corp yesterday said around 200 of its employees are still missing, and there has been no word about the fate of Ms Tankard, who had been on secondment to the New York Aon office when the terrorists struck.

Around 1,350 Aon employees were potentially at risk during the attacks, including around 1,100 employees based in 2 World Trade Center and a further 250 employees, who were travelling to New York City or were located in Aon's other lower Manhattan offices.

"We continue to work to locate the missing, and we pray for their safe return," Aon chief executive Patrick Ryan said.

The missing Marsh colleagues were all in the north tower between floors 93 and 100.

Around 1,900 people from Marsh's businesses were in the buildings. One employee was on board a hijacked aircraft. All Marsh staff in the south tower were safely evacuated. In this building were Guy Carpenter's headquarters and smaller groups from Mercer, Seabury & Smith and Marsh Enterprise Risk.

Boston-based Putnam Investments, Marsh's investment management subsidiary, was not directly affected. Staff who worked for Guy Carpenter and Mercer Consulting in the twin towers have now been relocated to Marsh's headquarters in mid-town Manhattan, and other nearby locations.

Jeff Greenberg, Marsh's chairman underlined that the company's businesses and financial condition remain sound.

"While there has been a limited impact on our operations, our financial resources, including insurance coverage, are more than sufficient. We believe that our long-term revenue and earnings generating capacity are unaffected," Mr. Greenberg said.

Meanwhile, Aon is working to find new office space in mid-town Manhattan for its displaced employees. Many have already been temporarily assigned to Aon's offices in the New York tri-state area.

Mr. Ryan underlined that Aon's financial resources and long-term earnings capacity remain strong but added that the events would likely have an unfavourable impact on the company's near-term financial results.

Aon's Combined Insurance Company subsidiaries issued a portion of the life coverage for the benefit of its employees in the World Trade Center.

If Aon's missing colleagues result in 2001 losses, Aon said its portion of the total would be $50m-$55m pre-tax.