TERRIFIED passengers were forced to evacuate a plane after a passenger’s bag in the overhead compartment suddenly burst into flames.
Passengers were boarding Sunday’s China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai when smoke began to fill the cabin.
A video taken on board showed a bag on fire in the overhead compartment.
Passengers and cabin crew could be seen trying to put out the flames with bottles of water and juice, Channel News Asia
Eventually fire crews and security came on board and managed to put out the blaze. The fire did not cause further damage to the plane, the airline said.
The owner of the bag was taken off the plane to talk to police. The cause of the fire appeared to be a power bank, which was most likely powered by a lithium-ion battery and not in use at the time of the fire, Fox News reported.
It took three hours for the airline to line up a replacement aircraft for the flight.
The incident comes months after a cargo burst into flames as it was about to be loaded on to an American Airlines plane at Hong Kong airport.
Dramatic video captured the fire blazing, with black smoke rising near the belly of the plane.
Also last year, a woman on a Melbourne-bound flight suffered burns after the battery-operated headphones she was wearing exploded and caught fire.
The passenger was listening to music and napping on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne when about two hours into the journey the headphones caught fire and an apparent explosion jolted her from her slumber.
The incident prompted the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to issue a warning to the public reminding airline passengers about the dangers of battery-powered devices on flights.
reported.