A woman who was aboard an Australian-bound flight from Beijing, China lives to tell her horrible experience with her headphones. Her battery-powered headphones caught fire about two hours into the flight, causing her several burns on her face and blisters on her hands.
According to media reports, the woman was sleeping while listening to music for about two hours after the plane took off when she heard an explosion and afterwards a fire.
"As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face," she told the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which issued a statement Wednesday as a warning to other passengers.
"I just grabbed my face which caused the headphones to go around my neck," she said.
She stated that she tore off the headphones and threw them to the floor, where she saw they were shooting off sparks and small flames.
"As I went to stamp my foot on them the flight attendants were already there with a bucket of water to pour on them. They put them into the bucket at the rear of the plane."
"People were coughing and choking the entire way home," she said.
The cause of the explosion may be attributed to the lithium-ion batteries inside the device as they are known for several cases of similar occurrences, just like the story of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices.
The Australian officials are still investigating to ascertain why the explosion happened.
Asides this case, recall that there have been other reports of mobile phones catching fire midflight. Perhaps we should begin thorough scrutiny of electronic devices before actually using them.