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Passengers screamed in terror when a hearth broke out contained in the cabin forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.
Panic ensued on board an Air China flight after orange flames and smoke billowed from an overhead compartment
Videos online showed travellers and air cabin staff rushing to the ignited overhead cabin to place out the flames.
Shouts and screams from other passengers might be heard within the footage, with some calling for the cabin crew to ‘hurry up’ in Korean.
The packed A321 Airbus, travelling from Hangzhou, eastern China, to Incheon in South Korea, was already 33,000ft within the air when the fireplace broke out.
Cabin staff were in a position to put out the fireplace and extinguish the flames, the passengers said.
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The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport.
Luckily, nobody was injured.
Air China confirmed the fireplace began after an influence bank stored inside carry-on luggage caught fire.
‘On October 18, on flight CA139 from Hangzhou to Incheon, a lithium battery in a passenger’s carry-on luggage stored within the overhead compartment spontaneously ignited,’ the airline said.
The incident is the most recent involving lithium batteries on planes after concerns were raised about safety risks.
In June, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) banned passengers from carrying power banks and other lithium batteries on board domestic flights.
Batteries without the usual 3C labelling and lithium-ion batteries, often present in power banks, have been banned – a move prompted by a rise in batteries catching fire on board.
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