During a flight from Beijing, China, to Melbourne, Australia, a passenger was sleeping when suddenly her headphones exploded, burning her face.
During a flight from Beijing, China, to Melbourne, Australia, a passenger was sleeping when suddenly her face began to feel hot.
About two hours into the flight, the woman’s headphones exploded, burning her face and singeing her hair, according to a press release published on Tuesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau .
„As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face. I just grabbed my face which caused the headphones to go around my neck,“ the unidentified woman said in a statement. „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. “
Images show the woman’s cheek and lips covered in soot and charred pieces of hair along the top of her head.
The press release says flight attendants were already pouring water on the headphones before the woman could begin stamping the fire out.
The other passengers were „coughing and choking“ for the remainder of the trip due to the smell of melted plastic filling the cabin.
An assessment of the incident by the ATSB found that batteries were likely the cause of the fire. The brand of headphones was not released. In a comment posted on its Facebook, the ATSB suggested lithium-ion batteries, which have a history of catching fire, were behind the explosion.
