Vandals tried to derail a French high-speed train with concrete blocks on the track, it emerged today.

Investigators picked through the charred debris of a Boeing 737-400 that burst into flames after careering off a runway in Indonesia, as forensic experts struggled to identify the 21 people killed, many burned beyond recognition.

At least 15 people were killed today when a fire broke out on an Indonesian ferry carrying 350 passengers.

Indonesia’s transportation minister today said rescuers had not found the wreckage of a plane that slammed into a mountain during stormy weather.

Russian air safety officials said today that the crash of a commercial airline in May that killed 113 people was due to pilot error.

Rescue boats and helicopters have converged in the choppy waters of the Red Sea, searching for survivors of an ageing ferry that sank with more than 1,400 people on board, mainly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia. Most were feared lost but officials said at least 324 made it to safety.

Iraqi troops will take over security at Baghdad Airport, replacing the British company which stopped working today in a pay dispute with the government, a top Iraqi official said.

AN INDONESIAN jetliner crashed into a crowded neighbourhood moments after a shaky take-off yesterday and burst into flames, killing 147 people, including dozens on the ground.

Israeli Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit today ordered four Israeli cruise ships carrying hundreds of tourists not to dock at the Turkish port of Alanya after receiving warnings of a possible terrorist attack, officials said.

Iran’s parliament impeached Transportation Minister Ahmad Khorram today after legislators accused him of corruption and financial mismanagement.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today threatened to dismiss Cabinet ministers who do not support his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, raising the stakes in a showdown that could break up the government, participants in the meeting said.

Rescue teams were searching the sea off the West African nation of Benin today in a desperate hunt for survivors of a plane crash that killed at least 96 people, authorities said.

A MAN stabbed two flight attendants with sharp wooden stakes yesterday as he tried to break into the locked cockpit on a domestic Australian flight, apparently in a bid to hijack and crash it.

AN Air Algerie jet crashed shortly after takeoff in southern Algeria yesterday, killing 102 people on board, the airline said. One person survived.

A military plane carrying 302 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards has crashed in the country’s south-eastern mountains, killing everyone on board, state-run media reported.