What happened when a portable charger ‘exploded’ on plane

The incident took place when the plane had landed at Volgograd International Airport in Russia

By: Shweta Ganjoo |
February 2, 2018 4:53 pm

Social media today is filled with stories of smartphone batteries exploding. Sometimes these faulty batteries cause injuries, other times they result in the phones being taken off the market globally.

Yet there are times when these tiny gadgets, that power our communication in the age of the Internet, give airlines (and the passengers) a cold sweat when they mysteriously catch fire on a plane mid-air.

However, never have we heard about a portable mobile phone charger giving ‘cheap thrills’ to passengers onboard a plane. Until now!

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Apparently, panic broke out on a Russian airplane after a portable charger caught fire in the middle of the cabin. The incident took place on Wednesday when Airbus A320 from Moscow landed at the Volgograd International Airport in Russia.

A video shows flames and smoke engulfing a section of the cabin as the passengers and the crew members try to douse the flames. Check out the video here:

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Despite the flames, passengers remained calm and stoic and helped the cabin crew to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher and a water bottle. According to reports, all passengers were safely evacuated from the Aeroflot flight using inflatable ladders.

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While the smoke came from a portable charger catching fire, however, representatives of the airliner told Interfax that the device had merely started giving off smoke.