People spot 'alarming' detail while tracking Santa's flight

Concerns have been raised for Father Christmas after a map of his whereabouts showed him heading towards some pretty dire circumstances.

For those in need of a reminder, mums and dads all over the world can track the man in the big red suit as he and his reindeer - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and, of course, Rudolph - make their way around the world.

So far, the group hauling-gifts has rushed their way through New Zealand, heading straight through Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch after setting off from the North Pole.

After that, he crossed the Tasman Sea and headed straight to Australia - ticking off little ones on the East Coast, like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - before heading North to Japan.

The big man has already taken on Australia and parts of Asia (Getty Stock Image)

Following his journey through the Land of the Rising Sun, heading across the East China Sea to Taiwan, and rattling through the Philippines, Indonesia, he soared back to Australia to take on the West Coast.

From there, he likely has plans to take on the remainder of Southeast Asia and China before heading up to Russia and the rest of Europe.

The reason we know all this? Flight Radar.

For those unfamiliar, we're talking about a global flight tracking site that allows viewers to keep an eye whereabouts of aeroplanes in terms of their placement in the sky at any time.

It also illustrates the business of the world's skies, with more clustered areas often coincidentally creating some sort of recognisable shape or picture, going viral.

Such seems to be the case today (24 December), with a snap circulating on social media showing St Nicholas and his pack heading straight towards an incoming plane.

Santa appeared to be heading straight for a plane (Flight Radar)

The user who clocked the terrifying sight wrote on X: "SANTA DONT CRASH INTO FLIGHT ANA217 - @flightradar24 are you seeing this?"

Another jibed: "60,000ft in an unpressurised sleigh, ouch."

A third commented: "An aviation disaster of holiday proportions."

Thankfully, however, reps from Flight Radar went on to respond to the 'alarming' news, showing that the incoming flight - a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner of Nippon Airways, heading from Tokyo to Munich - was actually travelling at a much lower 38,975ft, over 20,000ft below the main man.

The original poster later added: "Not me getting schooled by the flight radar account."

Phew, we can all breathe a sigh of relief, then, I guess?