A plane passenger was partially set on fire when his battery phone charger exploded in his pocket, forcing 150 others in the Australian airport lounge to be evacuated, according to reports.
The unidentified 50-year-old passenger was seen in flames as his jacket caught fire early Thursday in the Qantas lounge in Melbourne airport — with quick-thinking staff rushing him to a shower to put it out, the Sydney Morning Herald said.
One traveller said they suddenly “heard screaming from the other side of the lounge” as the terrifying explosion in his pocket “sent the battery acid flying everywhere.”
“His jacket caught on fire,” the passenger said online.
About 150 people in the lounge at the time were quickly evacuated, the paper said, with it closed for at least two hours before it could be cleaned and deemed ready for reopening.
The burned passenger was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for burns across his hands and legs, the Sydney paper said. It was unclear how severe they were.
Photos show the charred remains of the battery pack on the floor of the lounge.
Qantas confirmed there “was an incident at the Qantas International Business Lounge at Melbourne Airport … involving a customer’s powerbank.”
Portable chargers are often powered by lithium-ion batteries, which can cause fires if they overheat. Lithium fires are hard to extinguish, making the batteries dangerous in enclosed spaces like planes.
In October, a lithium battery caused a fire on an Air China flight, causing it to make an emergency landing. Airlines have begun to restrict the batteries in recent years, as incidents are occurring almost every two weeks.
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