An Air China flight was reported nearly hitting the mountain on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island after taking off from Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday night.

On Monday afternoon, Air China’s spokesman clarified that an investigation is undergoing, but the media report does not match the facts they found.

Flight radar images reported on Monday by South China Morning Post shows Air China 428 turning south towards Lantau island and surrounding mountains after taking off, while the normal route is westward bound. 

The flight was at 3,400 feet during the wrong turn, and the peak nearby is 3,066 feet. Even though the flight path was physically higher than the peak, the ruled safe altitude is 4,300 feet at this area. 

According to the audio record, the air traffic officer kept warning the pilot to “turn right immediately”, “terrain ahead”, and requesting the flight expedite to climb up to 5,000 feet, but the pilot did not respond. 

Two hours later, flight 428 safely arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Air China explained the pilot did not respond as he had questions about the officer’s orders and the radio frequency was busy. The pilot turned left when he attempted to talk to the officer, while they returned back to normal track after the warning. 

“Air China has been putting air safety as our top priority,” the spokesman said in the news conference. 

The air control officer had filed a report to the security department. The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and China’s Civil Aviation Administration will be following on the latest investigation.