Chinese plane makes emergency landing due to battery fire

Recently, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration said it received many cases of fires and explosions caused by lithium batteries and power banks, leading to tightening of flight regulations.

An Air China flight had to make an emergency landing. Photo: Reuters .

A commercial passenger flight operated by Air China made a safe emergency landing in Shanghai on October 18. The cause was a battery stored in a passenger's carry-on luggage that caught fire, the airline said.

The incident occurred on a flight from the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou to Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, South Korea. Data from the tracking website Flightradar24 showed the flight took off at 9:47 a.m. local time.

“A lithium battery spontaneously combusted in a passenger's carry-on luggage stored in the overhead compartment on flight CA139,” Air China announced on Weibo.

The article also said that the flight crew immediately handled the situation according to procedures and no passengers were injured. Accordingly, the plane was diverted to make an emergency landing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport to ensure flight safety.

In a clip filmed by a passenger and posted by Jimu News, flames can be seen erupting from an overhead luggage compartment. The footage shows black smoke billowing from the compartment, and at least one passenger attempting to put out the fire.

The battery fire incident was recorded by a passenger. Photo: SCMP.

The plane was scheduled to land at Incheon International Airport at 12:20 a.m. However, after the incident, the aircraft made a complete U-turn over waters equidistant from China's east coast and Japan's southern island of Kyushu, and landed in Shanghai at just after 11 a.m.

This is one of the latest lithium battery and power bank fires to be reported. In January this year, a similar fire broke out in the luggage compartment of Air Busan Flight 391 to Hong Kong while the plane was taxiing before takeoff, injuring seven people.

According to SCMP, China has also reported many incidents related to lithium batteries and overheated backup batteries, leading to tightening regulations on these items. Since the end of June, the Chinese Aviation Administration has announced that it will ban passengers from carrying on board power banks that do not have the “China Compulsory Certification (3C)” mark, or are unclear.

The rule comes just months after Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Authority banned the use of power banks on planes. From April 7, passengers will no longer be able to place power banks in the overhead compartment, but will still be allowed to place them under the seat or in the seat pocket in front of them.

Source: https://znews.vn/may-bay-trung-quoc-ha-canh-khan-do-chay-pin-post1595032.html