The Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) is issuing a warning after a woman's headphone batteries appear to have exploded on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne.

The unidentified woman was listening to music while napping on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne, but she was jolted awake by an explosion.

"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," she told the ATSB.  "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."

She tried to put it out with her feet, and members of the flight crew put out the fire by pouring a bucket of water on the headphones.  The battery had cuased the plastic casing to melt, sticking to the floor.  Other passengers coughed "the entire way home," she added, because of the smell of melted plastic and burnt hair.

The ATSB declined to name the headphone brand, because it was a "battery issue, not a headphone issue".

"Lithium-ion batteries have a history of issues in relation to mobile and portable devices," the ATSB added.  "But all batteries contain stored energy and are therefore potentially risky."

(Photos courtesy of ATSB)

 

Burned by battery-powered headphones

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