Two IndiGo flights that took off from the Bengaluru airport on January 7 had come close to mid-air collision just after taking off, according to a report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

An alert radar controller spotted the error and alerted the pilots of both planes in the nick of time and was able to avert a disaster and save the lives of the passengers and crew.

According to the country’s aviation regulator the IndiGo flights involved in the incident were 6E 455 departing for Kolkata and 6E 246 bound for Bhubaneswar.

A senior DGCA official said the error occurred as the shift in-charge decided to close the south runway but did not inform the air traffic controller of the south tower.

This resulted in the two flights getting permission for take-off at the same time from the converging North and South runways creating a situation where the two aircraft were about to collide with each other. A radar controller spotted the error and alerted the pilots of the aircraft immediately.

According to officials, the incident was neither recorded in any logbook nor did the Airports Authority of India report the matter in accordance with the rules laid down for such incidents.

This also considered a major lapse and the DGCA is looking into the issue as part of the detailed investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, IndiGo didn’t respond to queries asked by indianexpress.com till the time of filing this report.