Photo: Headphone batteries explode on flight to Australia

According to Australian officials, on Wednesday, March 15, 2017,
a lady whose headphones caught fire on an airplane had suffered burns to her
face and hands, and they also cautioned on the use of battery-operated devices on-board.

The traveller was listening to music on her own
battery-operated headphones and later dozed off, about 2 hours into the trip
from Beijing to Melbourne, on February 19, 2017, then suddenly there was a loud
bang.

�As I went to turn
around I felt burning on my face,� she told the Australian Transport Safety
Bureau (ATSB) which investigated the incident.

�I just grabbed my
face which caused the headphones to go around my neck. I continued to feel
burning so I grabbed them off and threw them on the floor.

�They were sparking
and had small amounts of fire.�

Flight attendants were said to have rushed to help and
poured a bucket of water on the headphones, but the battery and its cover had
both melted and stuck to the floor.

Pictures show the woman, whose name was not mentioned, with a blackened face and neck and blisters on her hands.

Other passengers had to tolerate the smell of melted
plastic, burnt electronics and scorched hair for the rest of the flight.

�People were coughing
and choking the entire way home,� the woman added.

The transport safety
bureau, which did not identify the airline or brand of headphones involved ni
the incident, said the lithium-ion batteries in the device likely caught fire.

�As the range of
products using batteries grows, the potential for in-flight issues increases,�
it said, adding that such devices needed to be stored safely if they were not
being used.

Spare batteries
should be kept in carry-on luggage, and not checked in, the bureau added.

The ATSB�s Stuart Godley alleged that it was the first
report of headphones catching fire in Australia, however, there have been a
number of other phone and device battery occasions.

Recall that many airlines in 2016, barred all Samsung Galaxy
Note 7 smartphones over fire risk concerns, following reports of explosions
caused by lithium-ion batteries.

The manufacturer, South Korean electronics giant, Samsung, a
great company in terms of innovation and quality, was mandated to recall all
its Note 7s, costing it loss of billions of dollars.

Lithium-ion batteries are used for handheld electronics
because of their considerable amount of energy it pack for their weight.