February 18, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 16, 1423

MADRAS, Feb 17: Northern India was on Monday the site of a narrowly-missed crash between an Indian Airlines plane carrying 82 and an aircraft flown by Taiwan’s EVA Airways.

Aviation sources said the Airbus A320 from Indian Airlines flying from New Delhi to Madras had a “near miss” with the EVA plane close to the northern Indian city of Nagpur at about 8,800 meters.

Sources from India’s state-run domestic airline said pilot M.P.S Puji was alerted to the danger by a collision avoidance system in his cockpit and contacted air traffic control in Nagpur for guidance. In November 1996, a Saudi Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin 76 transport jet collided in mid-air over Charkhi Dadri in north India, killing some 350 people.—AFP