The "active and professional" work of an air traffic controller prevented what could have been a major air disaster Sunday when a Russian and a US passenger jet narrowly avoided a mid-air collison, Interfax reported. The agency, citing officials at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, said the near-collision involved Russian jet, a Boeing 737 with 57 persons on board and a Boeing 767 with 231 passengers arriving from Atlanta, Georgia. The initial blame was being put on the Russian jet, which had just taken off for Rostov, with the pilots disobeying air controllers' instructions, airport officials said, according to DPA. "Thanks to the active and professional action taken by the air traffic controller was a further escalation of the situation averted," the airport said about the near-collision at an altitude of 2,000 metres.
