Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 9 (IANS): Eyewitnesses said a major air tragedy was averted at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport runway Friday when one foreign airline took off just in time to avert a crash with another flight that had landed. But the authorities dismissed the accounts saying both planes had operated on schedule.

Eyewitness reports said soon after 11 a.m. when an Emirates flight to Dubai was getting ready for take-off, a Sri Lankan Airways flight that had landed on one side of the airport was rolling towards the final stop on the runway.

"Eyewitnesses said the Emirates flight took off in the nick of the time and hence the Sri Lankan Airways flight was saved from crashing into the Emirates flight," an official at the Thiruvananthapuram airport told IANS.

Thiruvananthapuram Airport director G. Chandramouli however said the media appeared to be misleading.

"At 11.10 a.m., the Emirates flight to Dubai with 241 people on board took off normally and at 11.11 a.m., the Sri Lankan Airlines flight with 154 people landed normally. May be those who saw this happening were taken aback and the news went around," said Chandramouli.

"In busy airports like Mumbai, the gap between a take off and a landing is less than a minute.

"Anyway, an inquiry would be launched by the director general of civil aviation and if there is a fault, steps would be taken. If not, nothing will happen."