Scots EasyJet flight seconds from crashing in Alps after hurtling towards lake in botched landing

AN EasyJet flight from Scotland was seconds away from crashing in the Alps in a terrifying close call.

The Airbus A320 Neo left Edinburgh Airport with 157 passengers and was due to land at Geneva's Cointrin Airport.

The plane dropped to a dangerously low altitude and was just 30 seconds away from crashing into Lake Geneva, according to local reports.

Swiss air traffic controllers were forced to intervene after the plane dropped to just 750ft above the lake, around 7.5 miles away from the runway.

They called for the pilots to "check your altitude immediately" as they noticed drop in altitude - which was three times lower than it should have been.

Had air traffic controllers not intervened, the plane would have crashed in another 30 seconds, meaning it just narrowly avoided a horror, fatal incident, according to Local newspaper 24 Heures.

Pilots then accelerated rapidly and looped over Frech commune Thonon-les-Bains, avoiding the disaster on November 5 last year.

After the incident, the pilots were placed on leave but later resumed their flying duties.

Swiss investigators have launched a probe into the incident, which is currently ongoing, and shared a short interim report.

The Swiss Safety Investigation Service (SESE) told the local paper: "During the approach to runway 22, the aircraft descended significantly below the glideslope and the flight crew initiated a go-around."

The reason for the terrifying near-miss has not been issued and a full report will be published at a later date.

However, according to newspaper Blick, experts have claimed that the incident may have occurred by pilots following a 'shortcut route'.

The route would have taken them between Gland and Rolle which would have caused them to drop altitude due to the Jura mountains.

Bosses at EasyJet said they are currently unable to provide any details of the incident due to the ongoing investigation.

But they added that the safety of the passengers was at "no point compromised".

They also stated that they are fully supporting the investigation to ensure they have a full understanding of what happened.

A spokesperson for easyJet said: "We are fully supporting the investigation in line with procedures.

"At no point was the safety of those onboard compromised.

"The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority."