Airplane cabin fills with poisonous smoke while Power Bank sets fire on the ocean, hours away from the landing – Jalopnik

It can be annoying to tackle all lithium batteries on aircraft, but you would not know, the airlines actually have good reasons for those rules. A recent KLM flight has just shown us one of those reasons after a power bank caught fire, the hut filled with poisonous smoke while the plane was still over the Atlantic Ocean, four hours of its destination, CBS News reports. It is the kind you know in the back of your head that could possibly happen, but at the same time it had to be absolutely frightening to be on board while it happened.

The good news is that the plane itself did not catch fire and a stewardess was able to extinguish the portable telephone charger fairly quickly with the help of a fire extinguisher. The flight from São Paulo, Brazil, was also able to continue to his destination in Amsterdam instead of dealing somewhere else. So the terrified passengers have not had a major travel delay in another country. Allegedly the aircraft has also landed safely and so far no injuries have been reported.

KLM has since issued a statement and said: “Smoke has been detected on board due to a burning power bank. The crew quickly extinguished the device, after established safety procedures.”

This is certainly not the first flight that has ever had to deal with a battery fire on board. In reality, As CBS News remembers usLast month a battery fire forced a Delta flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to distract to Fort Myers, Florida. The cockpit crew succeeded in getting out of the flame fairly quickly, but the remaining smoke in the cabin led it to be explained an emergency. Fortunately there were no injuries to that flight.

Lithium batteries are now in almost everything, making battery a much bigger problem for airlines than before. In December last year, the FAA reported that battery fires were Since 2015 388% moreAnd only this year alone, there have been at least 35 lithium battery incidents on flights, and at least 12 of them were related to Power -Banken. After the rise in lithium battery incidents, Southwest has issued a new rule Earlier this year those Power banks require vision while they are in use. In the meantime, NL times reports That news from this most recent KLM battery fire led Emirates to use power banks on its flights. It is also important to note that KLM and various other airlines have banned their use a while ago.

In general, breathing in smoke is bad for you, but the smoke of lithium battery fires is also worse for you than you might think. One study from a few years ago Burning lithium batteries found give large quantities of hydrogen fluorideas well as phosphoryyl fluoride. So although you could probably find worse things to breathe, you really don’t want to breathe in the smoke that comes from a battery fire. I would also be willing to bet you don’t want to see any smoke at all while you are on the Atlantic Ocean, regardless of how toxic it is.