Aeroflot flight 1182 (tail VQ-BPU), a five year old Airbus A320, from Moscow to Volgograd landed safely as normal, but while taxiing to the gate, a passenger’s portable battery pack caught fire (also called a thermal runaway).
Thankfully, this mishap didn’t happen in the air because as you can see from the video below, it was a pretty scary ordeal.
According to the AvHerald:
Surrounding passengers poured bottles of water over the device temporarily extinguishing the flames, the thermal runaway however continued, the device re-ignited. Cabin crew finally reached the device, passengers and cabin crew poured additional water over the device, fire extinguishers were discharged and the device was put into a secure container.
Reports suggest the battery was cheaply made, which should serve as a lesson to ensure your battery packs and chargers are certified. I usually don’t care about brand name items, but when it comes to items like these I make sure I get it from a reputable brand. My favorite is Anker.
