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.“An alternate aircraft has been arranged to continue the journey to Chennai. We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers due to this unforeseen situation and are making all efforts to minimise it including offering refreshments and sharing timely updates. At IndiGo, the safety of our customers and crew remains our top priority,” the spokesperson added.There have been multiple cases of PED fires onboard aircraft. In one case, this May, passengers had to evacuate using emergency slides at Chandigarh after a fire broke out post landing and when the aircraft was taxing.
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In recent months, several countries including India have started restricting power bank usage on aircraft due to the possibility of the same catching fire. Apart from limiting number of power banks and their batter capacity, the same can neither be used to charge a PED nor be charged via the in-seat power source on aircraft. Also Power banks have to be kept in front of passengers so that smoke can be visible at the earliest if they catch fire, and not be kept in overhead baggage compartments.But 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.
