Power bank allegedly catches fire on Hong Kong Airlines flight, plane forced to make emergency landing

Plane to Hong Kong makes emergency landing due to power bank

A Hong Kong airlines plane was recently forced to land after a power bank onboard allegedly caught fire.

According to the South China Morning Post, HX115 was en route to Hong Kong on 20 March before a cabin fire suddenly forced it to land in Fuzhou.

Passengers suspect the cause of the fire to be from a power bank in the overhead compartment.

Fire erupts inside overhead compartment

Clips of the incident circulating on social media show cabin crew pouring water onto the luggage.

Excess liquid can be seen leaking onto the seats below the overhead compartment.

Meanwhile, the overhead compartment’s interior appeared charred due to the flames.

Passengers in the vicinity had already vacated the area.

“Hong Kong Airlines flight HX115, departing from Hangzhou (HGH) to Hong Kong (HKG) today, diverted and landed safely in Fuzhou Changle International Airport (FOC) due to a fire in the overhead compartment, which was successfully extinguished,” said the airline in a statement.

Source: South China Morning Post

The statement did not identify a specific cause for the fire.

String of similar overhead compartment fires

This fire is among a string of similar incidents where a fire had broken out in an overhead compartment.

In January, an Air Busan flight burned down after a fire began from luggage at the rear of the plane.

Then in February, a Batik Air flight to Bangkok filled with smoke after a fire allegedly from a power bank.

The string of fires then led to multiple airlines to issue restrictions for bringing power banks on board.

These airlines include Thai Airways, AirAsia, Singapore Airlines, and Scoot.

Also read: Singapore Airlines & Scoot to ban use of power banks on flights from 1 April

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Featured image adapted from @HavaSosyalMedya on X.