An Air France flight got too close to a Cameroon volcano on May 2 and just missed it, investigators said this week.
The Associated Press reported that Flight 953 had re-routed around a storm, and soon became oriented in the direction of Mount Cameroon. The volcano is 13,435-feet high, and last erupted in 2012.
The ground-proximity sensors on the Boeing 777 sounded in the cockpit, and pilots immediately responded by ascending from 9,000 feet to 13,000 feet.
The alarm stopped once it was clear of the volcano, and the flight continued on to Douala, the largest city in Cameroon.
Upon examination, investigators called it "a serious incident" because it involved "controlled flight into or toward terrain."
Air France officials
told a CNN affiliate that passengers were unaware of the incident at the time it occurred.