Headphone batteries explode on flight from Beijing to Australia
Pictures show the woman 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
A woman whose headphones caught fire on a plane suffered burns to her face and hands, Australian officials said Wednesday as they warned about the dangers of battery-operated devices in-flight.
The passenger was listening to music on her own battery-operated headphones as she dozed about two hours into the trip 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.”
Rechargeable lithium batteries have become ubiquitous over the past decade, powering our cellphones, computers and even some cars. But they also carry the risk of intense fires, which is a special safety concern when large numbers of batteries are shipped on planes.