Mobile Phone Catches Fire Midair On Flight, No Injuries

A mobile phone reportedly caught fire midair on a domestic flight in India, causing panic among passengers on the airplane.

The IndiGo airline flight that took off from the city of Dibrugarh in the state of Assam was heading toward the capital city of New Delhi when the incident took place Thursday. The officials said a cabin crew member, aboard flight 6E 2037, noticed sparks and smoke emanating from a passenger’s phone at some point during the journey, according to Deccan Herald.

The cabin crew member then used a fire extinguisher to put the fire out, the officials added.

A senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official confirmed the incident took place on the IndiGo flight, according to The Print.

The DGCA said none of the individuals aboard the flight reported any harm or injuries following the incident. The flight safely landed at its destination at around 12.45 p.m. local time Thursday, the officials added.

“A cabin crew observed smoke and spark from a passenger’s mobile phone seated on 30C,” he said. “The fire was extinguished by cabin crew using a cabin fire extinguisher.”

The airlines issued a statement in light of the incident, and said their crew was trained to deal with dangerous situations.

"There was an incident of a mobile device battery heating up abnormally on flight 6E 2037 from Dibrugarh to Delhi,” said the statement, as quoted by India Today. “The crew is trained to manage all hazardous incidences and they quickly managed the situation. There was no harm caused to any passenger or property onboard.”

The brand of the mobile phone was not revealed.

In a similar but unrelated incident, an aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after a power bank exploded midair and left a passenger with burns in the year 2019. The unidentified 26-year-old passenger was charging his phone using the power bank when the device exploded inside the aircraft, which was traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. The passenger suffered burns on his thigh and left hand. The aircraft made an emergency landing at Vietnam’s Tan Son Nhat Airport, where a medical team was waiting to receive the injured passenger and rush him to a hospital. An investigation revealed the power bank was designed by an unverified brand, Vietnam Aviation authorities said then.