Abu Dhabi — The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that Qatari fighter jets narrowly avoided a UAE passenger flight over neighboring Bahrain.

The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said the incident took place at midday Sunday and the captain of the flight with 86 passengers onboard had “to make a quick manoeuver to avoid collision.”

“Qatari jets chased the UAE passenger plane and came close to it leaving just seconds before collision... a very dangerous and unsafe approach which endangered the lives of passengers,” the authority said in a statement cited by news agency WAM.

It said the UAE would be filing a complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Bahrain’s civil aviation agency said in a statement cited by news agency NBA that the Airbus 320 was travelling from Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia to UAE capital Abu Dhabi. — Agencies