A Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone began smoking during a commercial flight from Singapore to Chennai, India on Friday, India’s aviation regulator said.
After smelling smoke coming from the overhead baggage compartment, passengers onboard the IndiGo flight, 6E-054, alerted the cabin crew who saw smoke and sparks coming from a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone in a piece of hand luggage.
The flight crew used a fire extinguisher on the phone before putting it in a container filled with water until the plane landed, the airline owned by InterGlobe Aviation said in a statement.
“The aircraft made a normal landing at Chennai airport, and all passengers were deplaned as per normal procedure,” IndiGo told Reuters.
The latest incident comes after Samsung’s worldwide recall of its new Note 7 phones due to faulty batteries causing the handsets to catch fire while they are being charged or in normal use. The company is offering free replacements or refunds for the handsets.
However, there have been no previous reports of similar issues facing the older Note 2 model that was first released in 2012.
“We are aware of an incident involving one of our devices. At Samsung, customer safety is our highest priority,” a Samsung spokesperson said. “We are in touch with relevant authorities to gather more information and are looking into the matter.”
Following the incident, a spokesperson for India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) said it plans to issue an advisory to airlines warning all passengers to keep their Samsung Note phones switched off during the flight or avoid travelling with the devices altogether, the Guardian reports.
The aviation authority has also reportedly summoned Samsung representatives to its New Delhi office to discuss the issue on Monday.
Samsung has not yet released the Galaxy Note 7 in India.
*Culled from International Business Times
