British Airways flight seconds away from mid-air disasterBy RAY MASSEY - More by this author » Last updated at 00:20am on 7thNovember 2007Comments (4) Hundreds of passengers watched in horror as their British Airwaysjumbo narrowly avoided a collision with another airliner over France. The Johannesburg-bound flight from Heathrow was suddenly forced toclimb to avoid an Argentinian passenger jet. Aviation insiders said the planes had allegedly been put on to thesame flight path by French air traffic controllers. Scroll down for more... A BA Boeing 747: The jumbo was carrying 292 passengers and 18 crew The danger was so great that the BA 747's automated collisionavoidance system was triggered, prompting the pilot to take emergencyaction high over Marseilles. The system triggers an audible alarm, with a loud and insistentinstruction to "climb, climb, climb". The BA captain took immediate evasive action to climb steeply and bankright to avoid the other plane, an Aerolineas Argentinas 747, near theMediterranean. Once the emergency was over, the captain went into the cabin to calmpassengers. BA later confirmed there had been 292 passengers and 18crew on board its plane. One BA eye-witnesses told colleagues: "It was a very close run thing.The two aircraft were put on the same flight path by French airtraffic control in Marseilles. "Passengers at the rear of the aircraft saw the other planeapproaching and were very frightened. The captain took evasive actionby going into a steep climb and turning right. "Afterwards, when things had calmed down, the captain left the flightdeck and went to the rear cabin to reassure the passengers and pacifythem." The incident happened on Saturday, September 29, but has only now cometo light. BA was yesterday reluctant to go into detail about the near-miss,short of confirming that it had happened. Insiders said it had been"hushed up". A long-haul aircraft such as a Boeing 747 would typically fly ataround 37,000ft. Aircraft usually have to be five miles aparthorizontally and with a 1,000ft difference in altitude to reduce therisk of a mid-air smash. A reduction in either distance will trigger what aviation officialscall a "loss of separation" - known to ordinary fliers as "a nearmiss". Another insider said: "French air traffic control is said to be toblame for putting them on the same flight level on a collision course.It happened a few weeks ago, but has been hushed up." BA declined to say at what altitude or on what bearing the two planeswere when the near-miss occurred. A spokesman said: "Flight crew on the BA55 from London Heathrow toJohannesburg received a TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system)warning while on route. "Our crew are trained to deal with such an event and they took therequired action. "Safely is paramount to British Airways and we would never compromiseit. Our aircraft are fitted with TCAS to ensure that should this typeof event occur the flight crew have plenty of warning to takeavoidance action. "We have filed our air safety report. The actual investigation issubject to French Air Traffic Control jurisdiction. There was no issuefollowing the TCAS warning." Aerolineas Argentinas confirmed it had a record of "an incident"involving an Airbus A340 travelling from Rome to Buenos Aires.