Plane Suffers ‘Serious Incident,’ Almost Dives Into Ocean Moments After Takeoff

An Airbus A320 aircraft in Italy suffered a “serious incident” when the plane almost dove into the sea shortly after takeoff last month, authorities have shared.

On Saturday, Sept. 20 at 9:57 p.m. local time, an Air Arabia aircraft took off from Sicily’s Catania Airport, before “a Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) pull-up message” was received shortly afterward, per a press release shared by the Italian aviation accident investigation agency, the National Agency for the Safety of Flight, translated from Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo (ANSV).

The plane had been heading to Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan at the time of the incident, the release noted.

The pull-up message “occurred as the aircraft approached the sea surface, reaching a short distance from it,” the ANSV added.

According to flight tracking website Flightradar24GPWS “are vital safety systems in modern aircraft that are designed to prevent collisions with terrain or obstacles, and were designed to prevent Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents.”

ANSV’s press release said, “The flight continued without further incident. There were no passengers on board, and two pilots and four cabin crew members were present.”

“After a preliminary review of the information received from the operator, ANSV opened a safety investigation, classifying the event as a serious incident,” the post concluded.

ANSV declined to provide any additional details when contacted by PEOPLE.

After the Air Arabia aircraft lost altitude, it reached just under 200 feet from the sea at a speed of just under 300 mph, according to Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and the Palermo Republic.

The plane then rapidly climbed back up, Corriere della Sera reported, per a translated article.

It’s unclear why the incident occurred, and the weather conditions were good at the time, the paper stated. The flight landed at 2:52 a.m. local time on Sept. 21, the outlet reported, citing the ANSV.

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Two Airbus A320 captains spoke to Corriere della Sera about the incident, and struggled to explain the sudden descent, the paper stated. The outlet did not specify if the captains were on board when the incident took place.

However, they pointed out that something like this could happen if “there was a bird strike, which would certainly have forced a return,” per the outlet.

Such incidents could potentially occur due to things such as an error in calculating the takeoff weights or a faulty maneuver by the pilots, as well, Corriere della Sera noted. The cause of the September 20 incident, however, is not clear.

Air Arabia didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.