Malaysia Airlines denies near miss with plane over Pakistan

Malaysia Airlines has denied that a London-bound flight was in near collision with another plane over Pakistan's airspace.

Several media outlets in Asia reported on the near-miss collision between a London-bound Malaysia Airlines plane and a Kuwait Airways plane heading to Islamabad, Pakistan.

Malaysia Airlines has said it "strongly denies" such reports and said the airline does not even fly over Pakistan over safety concerns.

"Malaysia Airlines strongly denies that one of its flights to London experienced a near-miss with a Kuwait Airways aircraft over Pakistan airspace on Sunday, April 5, 2015," said a spokesperson from Malaysian Airlines.

"Following a Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) issued by EASA early this year, Malaysia Airlines has avoided the Pakistani airspace due to increased risk to flight operation safety."

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority reported the incident occurred over the Zhob district of the southwestern Balochistan province due to weak air traffic control radar signals, reported Express Tribune.

There have been no comments from Kuwait Airways over the incident.

Malaysia Airlines has been victim to two major air disasters last year.

MH370 flight disappeared from flight radars as it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing over the South China sea on 8 March with an estimated 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

Four months following the MH370 disappearance, Malaysia Airlines MH17 was shot in the skies as it flew over eastern Ukraine.

Some 295 people were said to be on board the flight heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.