World IN BRIEF : PACIFIC OCEAN : Jumbo Jets Nearly Collided, Officials Say

Two jumbo jets, one from Los Angeles, came within seconds of colliding head-on 28,665 feet over the Pacific Ocean after an air traffic controller mistakenly put them on a collision course, Japanese aviation officials said. Northwest Airlines Flight 6 from Tokyo to Chicago avoided the disaster Sunday by veering out of the way of oncoming Cathay Pacific Airways Flight 881 from Los Angeles en route to Hong Kong, the officials said. The planes were 198 miles off the coast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific spokesman C.F. Kwan denied that the two planes had come within a few hundred yards of each other. Kwan said automatic warning systems worked in both aircraft when they were 40 miles apart. The Cathay Pacific plane’s system instructed the pilot to ascend, the Northwest system told its pilot to descend, and both pilots obeyed, he added. The Northwest jet was carrying 248 passengers and a crew of 18; the Cathay plane had 389 on board.