Thousands mourn Pirelli Tower dead

Pallbearers with the coffins of Annamaria Rapetti and Alessandra Santonocito

MILAN, Italy -- Thousands of mourners have packed Milan's huge cathedral for the funeral of two women killed when a light plane struck the city's Pirelli Tower last week.

In a mass held for the victims of the crash that revived memories of the September 11 attacks, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi joined relatives and colleagues of the two lawyers to mark the disaster which unnerved the country.

Investigators are still trying to work out whether illness, mechanical failure or a suicide wish caused the plane flown by Luigi Fasulo, 67, to smash into the 32-storey skyscraper. (Inquiry into disaster)

From the roof of the Duomo cathedral on Tuesday, the devastated upper floors of the landmark building -- the tallest in Italy -- were clearly visible a few kilometres away.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO A small private plane slammed into Milan's tallest building, killing at least three people and injuring dozens. CNN's Jim Clancy reports (April 18) Play video The plane punched holes in both sides of the building. (April 18) Play video   MORE STORIES • Witnesses talk of Milan plane horror  • New Yorkers' first thought: 'Not again'  • Chronology: Skyscraper disasters    RESOURCES • Gallery: Pictures of the crash scene  • The flight path  • The Pirelli building

The service for Annamaria Rapetti, 41, and Alessandra Santonocito, 42, was attended by several government ministers and led by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini.

He told 6,000 mourners the disaster had "violated a symbol of our city and our region and made us realise once again how fragile and vulnerable we are."

As the mass ended, the coffins, draped in lawyers' robes, were carried out into the sunshine to an outburst of applause.

Many at the service recalled the moment Italy thought it had a World Trade Center-style terror on its hands. ( Witnesses tell of Milan plane horror)

"We've all changed since September 11. Now I feel we're all on alert, wherever we go. That was all people could think about when this happened last week," Alessandra Livigni, 27, a shop assistant from Milan's nearby fashion district, told Reuters.

A preliminary autopsy failed to establish a cause of death of the pilot, although a legal source said it was most likely Fasulo was killed by the impact of flying into the tower. (Theories emerge)

"It is terrifying to think that we could be helpless to what one person has in his head," housewife Caterina Russo, 63, told Reuters.

"If it wasn't an accident, then why would someone choose to kill themselves by crashing into a skyscraper?"

Police have said Fasulo may have committed suicide due to money problems -- a hypothesis rejected by his family -- and government ministers have also raised the possibility that he deliberately flew his plane into the building.

An experienced pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flight time accumulated over 30 years, Fasulo took off from nearby Locarno in southern Switzerland.

On the morning of the crash, Fasulo went to police in Italy's Como town near Locarno to complain he had been swindled out of one million euros ($890,000) by an Italian who was later arrested in France.

Fasulo's son, Marco, had told Rome's La Repubblica newspaper that it may have been a deliberate act induced by despair over financial problems. (Full story)

Crowds gather outside the cathedral before the service

But Milan police say Marco has since denied making any such comments and Fasulo's wife, Filomena, told CNN she planned to sue the newspaper over the report.

A pin-ball machine and jukebox supply company run by Fasulo and his wife went into liquidation last month.

The 11 lower floors of the tower reopened on Monday, but on Tuesday the foot of the 30-storey building was still littered with paper, glass and the remains of the outer walls of two floors which were carved open by the impact of the crash. (Part of skyscraper reopens)

Emergency workers are continuing to clear debris from the 26th and 27th floors which were devastated in the crash.

Experts say the structure is intact but it is not known when the upper floors, used by the Lombardy regional administration, will be reopened.

Last October, the Duomo held a similar mass for the 118 victims of a crash involving a Scandinavian Airlines Systems airliner and an executive jet at Milan's Linate airport.