According to the Aviation Herald, air traffic controls attempted to contact the pilots but they were unsuccessful.

In what will come across as a really startling development, two pilots have fallen asleep while flying a plane.

They fell asleep at 37,000ft (11,000m), missing an airport runway before waking to safely land the plane in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

According to the Aviation Herald, air traffic controls attempted to contact the pilots but they were unsuccessful.

The incident took place on board an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa.

The pilots eventually woke up and landed the plane on its second approach, the newspaper added.

The aircraft was said to be cruising at 37,000 feet on autopilot when it failed to descend at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, its scheduled destination, on August 15.

Air traffic controls were apparently unable to reach the crew despite making several attempts at contact.

However, an alarm was triggered when the plane overshot the runway and continued along the route.

The aircraft subsequently began to descend, landing safely around 25 minutes later.

The Ethiopian Airlines crew had been put on leave pending investigation, state-run news outlet Fana reported.

The Boeing 737, with a 154-seat capacity, normally takes less than two hours on its route between the neighbouring countries.

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