Air France plane nearly misses volcanic peak in Africa, probe on

Paris, May 27: French investigators are looking into a near accident involving an Air France plane which narrowly missed one of Africa's highest volcanic peaks with 37 people on board.

The Boeing 777, which was travelling from Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea to Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, on May 2, got diverted from the normal route to reportedly avoid storms, investigators said.

The diversion occurred after an automatic "pull up" alarm went off. The plane was on course to hit the 4,040 metres high Mount Cameroon before the pilots were alarmed and they gained altitude to miss a disaster.

Nobody was injured and the plane swiftly concluded its remaining flight.

Air France later confirmed the incident, saying in a statement that the diversion to avoid a storm brought the plane on course to collide with Mount Cameroon. It said it would conduct an internal query into the incident.

Oneindia News