Both pilots on a passenger plane fell asleep mid-flight, causing the aircraft to overfly the runway – but they were woken up in time to land safely.

Ethiopian Airlines flight ET343 was travelling from Khartoum to Addis Ababa on 15 August when the incident happened at 37,000 ft.

According to Aviation Herald, air travel control tried to contact the pilots but were unable to do so.

The crew awoke after the aircraft’s autopilot disconnected and sounded an alarm.

The pilots managed to land the plane safely and it stayed on the runway for around two-and-a-half hours before it left for its next flight, the Daily Mail reports.

Data confirms the incident, which shows that the aircraft had overflown the runway and managed to make another approach when the pilots awoke.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras tweeted to say the incident was ‘deeply concerning’.