A passenger suffered injuries to her face and hand after the batteries in her headphones exploded mid-flight, prompting a safety warning from Australia’s transportation safety board.
In a news release, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said, two hours into a recent flight from Beijing to Melbourne, batteries inside a passenger’s personal headphones exploded, causing sparks and small flames.
The passenger was sleeping at the time of the incident, but awoke to the sound of a “loud explosion.”
“As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face,” the passenger is quoted as saying in the ATSB news release. “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 to the floor. They were sparking and had small amounts of fire.”
According to the passenger, who is not identified, flight attendants arrived at her seat with a bucket of water to douse the fire. The battery and its cover were both melted and stuck to the floor of the aircraft.
The safety bureau said, for the remainder of the flight, “passengers endured the smell of melted plastic, burnt electronics and burnt hair. “People were coughing and choking the entire way home,” the passenger said.
Photos provided by the ATSB show dark ash and burn marks on the woman’s face and burn blisters on her face. According to the ATSB, the batteries likely caught on fire.
The incident prompted the board to issue a reminder on how to safely stow or use battery-powered devices on flights:
• batteries should be kept in an approved stowage, unless in use
• spare batteries must be in your carry-on baggage NOT checked baggage
• if a passenger’s smartphone or other device has fallen into the seat gap, locate their device before moving powered seats
• if a passenger cannot locate their device, they should refrain from moving their seat and immediately contact a cabin crew member
