Swift action by crew saved the day when a backup battery for a passenger’s mobile phone overheated and burst into flames during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong on Christmas Day, injuring the owner.
The aircraft was an AirAsia Airbus A320 operating flight AK130. Reports said a passenger’s mobile phone battery suddenly overheated and caught fire, badly burning the owner, who local reports said was a Chinese national aged in his mid-twenties.
According to the Aviation Herald, the plane was cruising at 35,000 feet and was about 200 nautical miles south of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, when the emergency happened.
“Cabin crew extinguished the fire, cooled the battery down, secured it in a safe container and provided first aid to the passenger,” the report said. It sounds like a textbook response to the problem, a tribute to crew training.
At the same time, quick thinking flight crew diverted the flight to Ho Chi Minh City, where the aircraft landed safely about 35 minutes later.
The passenger was taken to a hospital and discharged the following day after treatment. Nobody else was reported to have been hurt.
The Aviation Herald said a replacement A320-200 reached Hong Kong the next day after a delay of 17 hours. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 20.5 hours, then resumed service.
Local news reports said the victim had suffered burns to about 20% of his body, so it was a significant incident.
Written by Peter Needham
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