ISTANBUL

The pilots of a private jet narrowly avoided a collision with a US Air Force refueling tanker near Venezuela on Saturday, CNN reported on Tuesday.

The pilots of a Falcon 900EX business jet en route from the Caribbean island of Aruba to Miami, Florida reported the near collision to air traffic controllers on the island of Curacao shortly after the incident on Saturday afternoon, according to audio captured by LiveATC.net.

Describing the encounter at about 26,000 feet (7,925 meters), one of the pilots told air traffic controllers that the aircraft came dangerously close, saying they were climbing directly toward a large plane that appeared to be a wide-body jet, possibly a 777 or 767.

This marked the second reported near-collision near Venezuela within two days, amid a US military buildup in the Caribbean, with US President Donald Trump suggesting military action against Venezuela might happen soon.

On Friday, pilots of JetBlue Flight 1112 from Curacao to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport said they were forced to abruptly stop their climb after a US Air Force aerial refueling tanker crossed directly in front of their flight path with its position-reporting transponder switched off.

US Southern Command told CNN that it was aware of recent reports concerning US military aircraft operations in the Caribbean and was reviewing the matter.

Curacao, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, lies about 40 miles north of Venezuela’s coast, and the Dutch Safety Board said it was aware of the incident in the island’s airspace.