Photos: Woman suffers burns to her face and hands after her headphones caught fire during flight
A woman suffered burns to her face and hands after her headphones caught fire during a flight to Australia, officials said on Wednesday as they warned about the dangers of battery-operated devices on planes.
The unnamed 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.
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