A lithium battery in carry-on luggage sparked blaze on Air China flight carrying 160 passengers

An Air China flight made an emergency landing after a lithium battery ignited in a carry-on suitcase. Photo / Getty Images

An overhead luggage compartment burst into flames mid-flight on a plane from China to South Korea.

The cabin was filled with smoke after a lithium battery stored in a passenger’s carry-on luggage sparked a fire at 33,000ft (10,058m).

The Air China plane had 160 passengers on board the flight from Hangzhou Xiaoshan international airport bound for Incheon.

As smoke wafted through the cabin, passengers urged crew members grappling with fire extinguishers to act faster to put out the blaze, footage shared on social media shows.

One local news outlet quoted a passenger as saying that a loud explosion had been heard before flames erupted from a suitcase around 20 minutes into the flight.

In a statement posted to Weibo, Air China confirmed that a lithium battery had ignited the blaze.

Crew members immediately responded to the incident and no injuries were reported, the airline said.

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Shanghai’s Pudong international airport at around 11am “to ensure flight safety”, according to Air China.

Passengers were later transferred to Seoul via a replacement jet, flight data showed.

Just months ago, China implemented an emergency ban on some portable batteries being brought on to flights because of fire hazards.

On October 19, a flight from Delhi to Dimapur was forced to turn around after a passenger’s electronic device caught fire inside a seat pocket.

In May, a China Southern Airlines flight from Hangzhou to Shenzhen reversed course just 15 minutes into its flight time after a passenger’s camera battery and power bank combusted.

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