By AFP | Updated: Mar
15, 2017, 11.31 AM IST
A woman suffered burns to her face and hands after her
headphones caught fire during a flight to Australia, officials said today as
they warned about the dangers of battery-operated devices on planes.
The passenger was listening to music on her own
battery-operated headphones as she dozed on the flight from Beijing to
Melbourne on February 19 when there was a loud explosion.
"As I went to turn around I felt burning on
my face," she told the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) which
investigated the incident.
"I just grabbed my face which caused the
headphones to go around my neck. I continued to feel burning so I grabbed them
off and threw them on the floor.
"They were sparking and had small amounts of fire."
Flight attendants rushed to help and poured a
bucket of water on the headphones, but the battery and its cover were both
melted and stuck to the floor.
Pictures
show the woman, who was not named, with a blackened face and neck and blisters
on her hands, with passengers having to endure the smell of melted plastic,
burnt electronics and burnt hair for the remainder of the flight.
"People were coughing and choking the
entire way home," the woman added.
The transport safety bureau, which did not
identify which airline was involved, assessed that the lithium-ion batteries in
the device likely caught fire.
"As the range of products using batteries grows, the
potential for in-flight issues increases," it said, reminding travellers
using battery-powered devices they must be kept in an approved stowage unless
in use.
Spare batteries should be kept in carry-on
luggage, it added.
Many airlines last year barred all Samsung
Galaxy Note 7 smartphones over fire risk concerns, following reports of
exploding batteries.
The South Korean electronics giant recalled all
its Note 7s, costing it billions of dollars.
There have been several incidents involving
lithium batteries in recent years with a flight due to leave Sydney last year
disembarked when smoke was seen coming from a passenger's hand luggage.
It was later found that lithium batteries had
ignited.
Also last year, a personal electronic device
began belching smoke then caught on fire on a Qantas flight from Los Angel to
New York, the ATSB reported.
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