Yet Another Samsung Phone Catches Fire, Except This Time on a Commercial Flight
Toggle Dark Mode
Of all the places your cell phone could catch fire, a commercial flight probably ranks near the worst. And, unfortunately for one passenger on an IndiGo, that’s exactly what happened.
A Samsung Galaxy Note 2 caught fire while flight 6E-054, which was heading from Chennai to Singapore, was mid-flight on Friday, Sept. 23. Passengers reportedly smelled smoke, and alerted the cabin crew, according to Mashable.
The crew then saw smoke coming from an overhead bin, and quickly relocated passengers away from the source — which turned out to be a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 emitting smoke and sparks. They proceeded to quickly extinguish the fire. No one was injured and the plane landed safely, according to sources cited by news publication The Hindu.
“The aircraft made a normal landing at Chennai airport, and all passengers were deplaned as per normal procedure,” the airline told Reuters in a statement.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, an Indian government organization, will soon be issuing an advisory warning passengers against using any Galaxy Note series of smartphones on commercial flights, the International Business Times reported.
“We are aware of an incident involving one of our devices. At Samsung, customer safety is our highest priority. We are in touch with relevant authorities to gather more information, and are looking into the matter,” a Samsung India spokesperson told Mashable.
This burning incident comes at a tricky time for the Korean-based company. Samsung is in the midst of a worldwide recall after numerous reports of faulty batteries igniting and burning up on their new Galaxy Note 7.
Earlier this month, the US Federal Aviation Administration strongly recommended passengers not to turn on or use Note 7 devices on flights. Airlines and government bodies from a slew other countries have followed suit, including several Indian airlines.
Samsung has yet to release the Galaxy Note 7 in India. The Galaxy Note 2 — the phone that burned up on Flight 6E-054 — was released in the country in 2012, and is not currently available for sale.
