On Friday passengers aboard a Southwest Airlines plane were forced to evacuate after a smartphone suddenly caught fire.
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While waiting to depart from Denver International Airport in Colorado, someone’s phone on the plane started smoking. According to CNN, “a passenger’s smartphone started smoking, filling the cabin with acrid fumes, and causing a seat to catch fire”.
Travelers were instructed to evacuate the aircraft, which was caught on video. People towards the front of the plane were told to exit via the jet bridge and those in the back used an emergency chute. According to Fox News, crew members then used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
After the incident, a few passengers commented on the scary experience. One witness said, “Everybody saw the smoke because it kind of filled the back of the cabin. And then somebody screamed ‘Fire'”
Another traveler aboard the flight said, “At least the fire was already out, but the smell was really bad from the lithium battery or whatever it was. A girl was holding a Samsung phone that sort of started smoking. It burned her hands. And they just told us to get out.”
It was reported that only two people were injured during the incident. One passenger was injured while exiting the plane, while the other needed to be treated for burns on their hand. The second passenger was the owner of the phone who began smoking.
Apparently, phone batteries, the lithium-ion ones, in particular, have caused similar issues on other recent flights. According to the NY Post, an airport jet bridge in China began to fill with smoke after “a faulty power bank caught fire.”