According to The Seattle Times (via The Verge), an Alaska Airlines flight had to be evacuated Monday night after a smartphone that was on board caught fire. A spokesperson for Port of Seattle stated that the device that was destroyed was a Samsung Galaxy A21.
The Port of Seattle spokesperson stated that the phone had been "burned beyond recognition" in an email to The Seattle Times. However, the passenger who was the owner of the device gave details about the model. The spokesperson stated that they could not confirm the claim by inspecting the remains of device.
Although the flight crew put out the flames using a battery containment bag and smoke, the evacuation slides were needed. After the flight landed at Seattle-Tacoma airport, the smartphone didn't catch on fire. There were no serious injuries to any of the passengers or crew members.
@AlaskaAir, thank you so much for putting out the fire and getting us on flight 751 quickly! pic.twitter.com/BWKeXKzOyR Dave (@dave_lickorish) August 24, 2021
A passenger on board the flight tweeted that the smartphone was burning like a smoke machine.
I spoke with a passenger aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 751, which was landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when a fire broke out. An Alaska Airlines official told @KIRO7Seattle that a passenger's cell phone was set on fire. Were live at SeaTac at 11. pic.twitter.com/qeNHq4g17Z Kevin Ko (@NewsWithKevin) August 24, 2021
Sometimes, cellular phones catch fire due to battery problems. However, this problem is not uncommon. In 2016, Samsung had to recall its Galaxy Note 7 because of exploding batteries.
There were numerous reports at that time of Note 7 devices exploding while charging. The device was eventually banned from all flights within the United States.
No evidence has been found that the Galaxy A21 is currently facing a similar issue.
