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The crew climbed straight to “Flight Level 130” or about 13,000 feet before continuing to Douala. Mount Cameroon, an active volcano, stands at 4,090 metres or 13,400 feet.

Air France said the crew of Flight 953 had reacted in accordance with their training and the plane’s manuals but that they had been taken off flying duties for more training.

Pending the airline’s own investigation, they are receiving “pedagogical, managerial and medical support,” a spokesman said.

Air France said it had also issued extra briefings to all crews about the landscape around the coastal city of Douala.

There were 23 passengers, three pilots and 10 cabin crew or 36 people in total on board the jet, the spokesman said, adding passengers would not have been aware of the cockpit scare.

However, the BEA, which counted 37 people on board, said it was investigating the avoidance maneuver as a “serious incident,” pointing to a possible near-disaster.

Under aviation protocols, a serious incident is defined as an event in which an accident “nearly occurred.”

According to the United Nations aviation agency, which sets rules for investigations, the classification may be used when a ground collision, for example, is only “narrowly avoided.”

The cockpit’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System issues a staccato command ordering pilots to “pull up” when an aircraft gets too close to the ground, except when landing.