Passengers onboard a flight experienced a frightening incident when an overhead locker caught fire, prompting an emergency landing due to smoke filling the cabin. The incident occurred on an Air China flight departing Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport for Seoul with 160 passengers and crew onboard. Panic ensued as a lithium battery in a passenger’s carry-on luggage ignited, causing flames and chaos among passengers.
Cabin crew and passengers rushed to address the situation, with one passenger attempting to locate the source of the fire in the overhead locker. The crew swiftly extinguished the flames with a fire extinguisher, while passengers urged them to act quickly. Reports indicated a loud explosion was heard before the fire erupted, escalating the tension onboard.
Following the incident, Air China confirmed that the lithium battery in the passenger’s carry-on luggage spontaneously caught fire. Despite no injuries reported, the flight was diverted to Shanghai Pudong International Airport for safety reasons. Passengers were transferred to another aircraft bound for Seoul after the emergency landing in Shanghai.
Photos and videos shared online depicted the intensity of the fire and smoke inside the cabin, with visible scorch marks on several rows of seats. While the cause was determined to be a lithium battery, details regarding the specific device or manufacturer remain undisclosed.
This event adds to a series of incidents involving lithium batteries on flights in the region this year. In previous cases, flights experienced issues due to lithium battery-related incidents, such as smoke from a camera battery on a China Southern Airlines flight in May and a power bank fire on an Air Busan flight in January.