U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will mark the 5th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in Canada, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing on Friday.

"Secretary Rice wanted to go to Canada on September 11th as a way of thanking Canada and the Canadian people for all that they did on that day," McCormack said.

"On September 11th, America closed its air space, and the Canadian government and the Canadian people took in many, many flights and many, many people who were essentially stranded because they could not continue flying into American air space," McCormack said.

"That was just an extraordinary act of trust, generosity and kindness in a moment of need, and Secretary Rice wanted to travel to Canada to thank the Canadian government and the Canadian people for those extraordinary act," McCormack said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, a total of 224 flights carrying 33,000 passengers were diverted to Canada from the United States.

Source: Xinhua