Air China plane was in the air, flames started rising inside, panic spread among passengers – VIDEO – Air China flight’s overhead bin sparks panic among flyers after Battery fire ntc

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Air China flight CA139, flying from Hangzhou, China to Seoul, South Korea, had to make an emergency landing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Saturday due to a fire caused by the explosion of a lithium battery. A video of this incident is going viral on social media, in which flames are seen rising in the overhead cabin inside the plane.

According to the report of South China Morning Post, the flight departed from Hangzhou Airport at 9:47 am (local time) and was scheduled to reach Incheon International Airport at 12:20 pm. About 40 minutes into the flight, a lithium battery in a passenger’s carry-on bag in the overhead cabin exploded, causing a fire.

Air China ChinaIn a statement released on the social media platform ‘Weibo’, it said, ‘On October 18, a lithium battery in a passenger’s carry-on bag on flight CA139 from Hangzhou to Incheon spontaneously caught fire. Crew members took immediate action and brought the fire under control. To ensure the safety of passengers, the flight had to make an emergency landing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

According to Flightradar24 data, the plane made a complete circle over the sea and landed in Shanghai around 11 am. There were 160 passengers and crew members on board this plane and all are safe. In a video viral on social media, it is seen that passengers and cabin crew are trying to extinguish the flames coming out of the upper compartment. In the video, voices shouting ‘Hurry up’ are heard in Korean. A passenger was quoted by the Shanghai Observer as saying that there was a massive explosion before the fire.

This incident highlights the safety concerns associated with lithium batteries during flight. Many such incidents have happened in recent years. In May 2025, a China Southern Airlines flight from Hangzhou to Shenzhen had to return to the airport 15 minutes after takeoff due to smoke coming from a camera battery and power bank. In January 2025, a fire broke out on an Air Busan flight due to an explosion in the spare power bank. There were 169 passengers and 7 crew members on board this aircraft; 7 people had minor injuries.

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