Passengers on board a Royal Brunei Airlines flight from Hong Kong (HKG) to Bandar Seri Begawan (BWN) had a mid-air scare as a passenger’s power bank exploded and filled the cabin with smoke.
On January 3, passengers on board flight BI636 were in for a bit of a scare as someone’s power bank reportedly exploded mid-flight, resulting in the cabin filling with white smoke and travelers having to cover their noses and faces to deal with the fumes. Francis Ngu Hown Hua, one of the passengers on board was able to capture footage of the incident.
The recording shows flight attendants attending to the smoking battery pack while others looked on. Both crew members and passengers on board seemed quite calm about the situation. The flight safely made it to its destination, and everyone on board was reported as unharmed by the airline.
The airline issued the following statement:
“Our cabin crew are trained to follow standard operating procedures to handle such incidents professionally and to ensure the safety of our guests at all times. We carry the recommended safety equipment on board at all times.
“RB takes the safety of our guests seriously and would like to remind all our guests to observe the “Guide to Dangerous Goods” for checked or carry-on baggage in accordance with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations at www.flyroyalbrunei.com for the safety and security of all onboard RB flights. Should our guests have any questions for the carriage of restricted items, they can contact our call center or their travel agents or visit our website at www.flyroyalbrunei.com”
Lithium-based batteries can be quite dangerous in certain circumstances, and it is always advised that you purchase high quality power banks and use the recommended chargers and cables, as using a cheap bank or incorrect attachments could easily result in the battery overheating and exploding like in this situation.
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[Featured Photo: Francis Ngu Hown Hua/Facebook]
