JAKARTA, Indonesia

Train crash kills at least 43, leaves many critically hurt

A train crash in central Indonesia killed at least 43 people and injured dozens today, many of them critically, officials and witnesses said.

The accident occurred in Petarukan, a city on the northern coast of Central Java province, about 3 a.m. local time as many passengers were sleeping, witnesses told TVOne.

A train from the capital, Jakarta, slammed into a train sitting idle near the station’s platform, causing severe damage to both.

BARI, Italy

Missing ballonists likely dead, race organizers say

Two missing American balloonists were plunging toward the Adriatic Sea at 50 mph when they dropped off air traffic control radar, a sign that they crashed and almost certainly were killed, organizers of the race they were competing in said Friday.

Flight director Don Cameron said that high rate of descent, if confirmed, leads him to be “very pessimistic” about the fate of veteran pilots Richard Abruzzo, 47, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Carol Rymer Davis, 65, of Denver.

The “only shred of hope” is that the readings from air traffic control in Zagreb, Croatia, were from the outer limits of its radar zone and might be

incorrect, Cameron said. He expects to confirm the data with Italian air traffic controllers today.

Abruzzo and Davis were participating in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race.