Two planes were just seconds away from colliding in midair in Australia, according to an investigation into a 2009 incident. The near miss occurred around 60kms from the centre of Mildura in Victoria, Australia, on September 3 last year.

An Emirates Boeing 777 carrying 302 passengers and crew passed within a few kilometres of a Qantas 737 carrying 150 people. An air traffic controller on the ground cleared both the carriers to rise to 30,000 feet without noticing that their paths would later cross.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau which ran the probe into the incident, more than 17 minutes passed before the collision course was identified. When the air traffic controller was finally alerted to the potential disaster on his radar screen, the two aircraft were only 19kms apart. One minute later this gap had shrunk to only nine kilometres, breaching the minimum space between planes.

Attempts were made to contact the Emirates pilot three times but no response was received. The Qantas pilot eventually received instructions to turn right and climb, averting the situation after the gap between the aircraft shrunk to 6.7kms at its lowest point.

The two carriers were only about 40 seconds away from colliding, according to an aerospace engineer who worked on the investigation. Airservices Australia, which ran the control centre, has now revised part of its training programme and the individual traffic controller was immediately stood down.