A Samsung smartphone caught fire mid-air on a Delhi-Indore flight last Friday, sending dozens of people in panic as the alert crew rushed to put the situation under control, according to a report. The Jet Airways' flight had 120 passengers onboard and it eventually landed safely.
The handset, said to be a Samsung Galaxy J7, belonged to a Delhi resident Arpita Dhal. The phone, she says, was in her bag, which she had placed under her seat. About 15 minutes after the flight took off, she told HindustanTimes, that smoke started coming out of the bag.
"It was a mid-air panic. We prayed to god," said Arpita's husband Atul told the newspaper. Adding more stress to the situation was the fact that the fire extinguishers that did not work, the couple said. The crew, however, handled the matter responsively, quickly moving to a different plan.
They put the handset in water to stop the smoke and any potential explosion. "Jet Airways crew immediately took charge of the situation, as also all necessary steps as precautionary measure, and as per the prescribed guidelines," a Jet Airways spokesperson told HindustanTimes.
A Jet Airways spokesperson confirmed that the incident was resolved "as per guidelines". "It was observed on board Jet Airways' flight 9W 791 Delhi-Indore that smoke was emitting from a guest hand bag. Jet Airways crew immediately took charge of the situation, as also all necessary steps as precautionary measure, and as per the prescribed guidelines," the spokesperson said.
India Today Tech reached out to Samsung India for a response into the incident and we will update the post as soon as we hear something. Meanwhile, commenting on the matter, Samsung spokerperson informed BGR, "We are in touch with relevant authorities for more information. At Samsung, customer safety is top priority."
While so far this is a one-off incident and the exact reason behind the fire is still not know. It is also too early in the day to know whether the Galaxy J7 is facing a similar issue as the Galaxy Note 7 from last year. To recall, there were numerous reports last year of the phablet spontaneously catching on fire which resulted in the phone's early demise. It is possible that Arpita's phone caught on fire due to faulty battery possibly from a third-party source, but it is all conjecture for now. We will know more once Samsung has completed its investigation.
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