KOLKATA: A passenger aircraft of the United Airways of Bangladesh had a close shave in Kolkata as it avoided a mid air collision with an aircraft of Saudi Airlines at the last moment on Monday night.

The two jets, carrying 500 passengers, managed to avoid the collision due to the discretion of air traffic control office though the Airport Authority of India has not talked anything about the matter.

Sources said the problem arose as the pilot of Saudi Airlines’ jet misunderstood the directions by air traffic control.

However, in his interview to NDTV, captain of United Air Ariful Islam said suddenly a plane came in view when we were some 270 miles away from Dhaka and they were flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet from the ground.

I had given Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) signal as the Saudi jet came within 32,000 feet, he added.

BDST: 0905 HRS, AUG 12, 2014