To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Ryanair Plane Evacuated After Phone Charger Catches Fire

Ryanair Plane Evacuated After Phone Charger Catches Fire

A Ryanair flight between Barcelona and Ibiza has been evacuated after a phone charger pack caught on fire and caused a panic.

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

Passengers on a Ryanair flight have been forced to leave the plane after a mobile phone charger caught on fire.

Dramatic footage shows the handset burning through a plane seat and falling to the floor while smoke filled the cabin.

A passenger's phone was being charged via a mobile device when it burst into flames before the plane was due to depart for a short hop over the Mediterranean Sea to the island of Ibiza.

A second video captured passengers exiting the aircraft via the inflatable slide, crashing into each other as they panicked and threw themselves down the slide from the plane.

The caption alongside one of the Instagram videos of the burning phone reads: "Looks like it harfer (sic) to get to ibiza then we thought ive never seen so many people so scared in there life!"

"Portable charger blew up in the same row as I was sitting everyone tries to run and all I do was put it out with water.

"Luckily it was just before taking off come on people how can no one else think of doing that fire across the whole plane width of the plane emergency exits are pre fun when there's not a real emergency."

PA

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "All passengers were safely evacuated back to the terminal and cabin crew dealt with the mobile phone.

"Ryanair worked to arrange a spare aircraft to re-accommodate these passengers with the minimum delay.

"These must be individually protected to prevent short circuits," said the statement on the portable charger devices similar to the kind that caused the fire onboard the aircraft.

"Battery terminals must be either recessed or packaged so as to prevent contact with metal objects including terminals of other batteries."

Battery-related fires are not uncommon on aeroplanes, with the Federal Aviation Administration, the US government agency that deals with air travel within the United States, claiming that 'air/airport incidents involving lithium batteries carried as cargo or baggage' occur roughly once every six weeks.

Indeed, Barcelona Airport was involved of a similar incident in December when an iPhone exploded en route from the Catalan city to New York City after a passenger crushed it by reclining their chair.

In February, a flight between the Florida city of Orlando and Phoenix, Arizona, was diverted to Tampa after a battery pack ignited and burned the owner of the phone and then caused panic on the plane.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: UK News, News, Ryanair