Battery fire on plane was so fast, passenger says

A plane passenger has described her fright as a traveller's battery pack in the row in front of her burst into flames during a flight.

Sisters Sandy Edwards and Jackie Riggs, from Portslade and Pevensey Bay in East Sussex, were on board the British Airways (BA) flight from Gatwick Airport to Italy before it was forced to turn back on 15 October.

Edwards told BBC Radio Sussex it "all happened so fast": "The gentleman in front of us started screaming and I thought he was having a panic attack, but then he stood up and his tracksuit was on fire."

A BA spokesperson said: "We're extremely grateful for the actions of our crew on the flight to resolve the issue swiftly and safely."

The plane took off at about 07:30 BST and had not yet reached the Channel before the fire broke out, Edwards explained.

"As he stood up, you could see that his leg was burnt. He threw a gadget on to the floor that was on fire," she added. "I didn't really know what to do."

Edwards said the cabin crew acted "very swiftly" as they extinguished the flames, gave instructions to passengers and assisted the man at the back of the plane.

Once back at Gatwick Airport, the man was seen by paramedics and passengers were disembarked, taken to a sealed off gate and given grey tracksuits to change into, she added.

The sisters were rescheduled on another flight at 14:00 that afternoon.

A BA spokesperson said: "Safety is always our top priority and our flight landed back at Gatwick following this incident.

"We're sorry to our customers for the delay to their travel plans and thank them for bearing with us."

The incident comes as the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a campaign to warn people about the risks of travelling with devices which use lithium-ion batteries, often found in laptops, vapes, mobile phones and power banks.

The regulator says power banks and vapes have now become the biggest fire risk on planes.

Ross Lydall, head of communications at the CAA, told BBC Radio Sussex: "If they overheat or malfunction, then they can be a bit like a firecracker - it can be a very dramatic, very intense heat.

"That's why there's a need to ensure these devices are kept with you in the cabin in a situation like Sandy's just described on this flight.

"The cabin crew, who are specially trained to deal with this, can intervene rapidly."

Gavin Harper, a critical materials research fellow at the University of Birmingham, said "noxious emissions" from battery fires are a "valid concern" for passengers on long flights which may not be able to land.

"Air in an aircraft cabin is recirculated, it doesn't come in from the outside," he said.

"Lithium-ion batteries are the dominant technology of the moment and some of the components inside them are really difficult to substitute."

However, he says scientists are working on making "greener and cleaner" batteries.

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