NEW DELHI: An IndiGo flight operating from Delhi to Chennai Sunday had to be diverted to Hyderabad after a the battery of passenger’s personal electronic device caught fire. The crew put the PED in water and then the aircraft safely diverted to Hyderabad.“6E 6115 was diverted to Hyderabad after smoke was detected from a customer’s PED. The cabin crew responded promptly and the situation was brought under control. In line with established protocols, the pilots diverted the flight and landed safely at Hyderabad,” an IndiGo spokesperson said.
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The personal electronic device with the lithium ion battery or power bank, whatever it is that caught fire, was kept in the overhead baggage bin. Many countries, including India, mandate that the same be kept in front of passengers so that they can quickly spot when and if they start emitting smoke and/or catch fire. The idea is to avoid any delay. However despite announcement to the effect, most passengers simply ignore this instruction and have the power bank or PED in bags and put them in overhead bin.The biggest scare on this front remains airlines taking cabin bags from passengers at boarding gate to be kept in baggage hold of aircraft. These cabin bags may have PEDs, power banks and if a fire breaks out in them in the belly baggage hold, the same won’t even get detected easily. The aviation ministry is aware of this issue and is working to resolve it.
