Air France flight AF953 misses Cameroon mountain Published duration 26 May 2015

image copyright AFP/Getty Images image caption The Air France Boeing 777 ran into bad weather close to the coast of Cameroon (file picture)

An Air France aeroplane narrowly missed central Africa's highest mountain in early May, French investigators say.

Flight AF953 was travelling from Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, to Douala, Cameroon's largest city and commercial capital, when it hit bad weather on 2 May.

While avoiding storm clouds, the plane came close to hitting the 4,040-metre (13,254 feet) Mount Cameroon.

The Boeing 777 aircraft had 37 people on board as it made the short journey to Douala, which is around 100km (62 miles) from Malabo.

It was due to arrive in Cameroon to pick up more passengers before continuing to Paris.

After diverting north to avoid storm clouds shortly after 21:00 local time, the plane's new route to Douala took it directly towards the mountain.

An initial incident report published by BEA said an automated warning, saying "Pull up", was activated. The plane then ascended quickly from 9,000ft (2,743m) to 13,000ft (3,962m) to avoid crashing.

BEA did not say how close the plane came to Mount Cameroon.