Terror broke out on an Air China Airbus A321 when a fire ignited in the overhead hand luggage compartment at 33,000 feet. The blaze, caused by an overheated power bank, erupted on flight CA139 from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport to Seoul.
Smoke filled the cabin as passengers shouted “Faster, Faster” while crew battled the flames. The fire was eventually extinguished by the swift actions of the cabin crew, with no injuries reported among the 160 passengers and crew.
The plane made an emergency landing at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport at around 11am. Passengers were later transferred to another aircraft which completed the journey to Seoul.
Since June, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has banned the carriage of power banks and batteries without 3C standard labelling on domestic flights, following an increase in incidents involving Li-ion batteries catching fire on board.
In a separate incident, a cargo plane skidded off the runway at Hong Kong International Airport early Monday, plunging into the sea. The flight from Dubai crashed around 3:50am, killing two people believed to be from an airport ground vehicle. Four crew members were rescued and taken to hospital. The runway remains closed but the airport's other two runways are operational.
