The phone was being stored in an overhead baggage compartment when it started emitting smoke on a flight from India to Singapore, according to India’s aviation regulator.
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Officials said it wasn’t clear whether the passenger had switched it off. The phone which was kept in the overhead bin reportedly was seen to have caught fire.
The IndiGo flight was on its way to Chennai from Singapore, the airline said, but there was no damage to the plane and the flight landed safely. The crew found that the smoke was being emitted by a Samsung Note 2 phone which was in the hand baggage of a passenger.
The flight crew had to use a fire extinguisher on the phone and placed it in a container filled with water.
The budget passenger carrier said the aircraft made a normal landing at Chennai airport, and that all passengers were deplaned as per normal procedure. Until now, Samsung has not given any timeframe for the expect release date for Android 7.0 Nougat on its flagship devices such as Galaxy S7 and Galaxy Note 7.
However given Samsung’s current crisis with the Note 7 (and how there are reports of replacement units being problematic), like we said, this new report is certainly not helping Samsung with their public image. “We have called Samsung to discuss the issue on Monday” (See: DGCA prohibits Samsung Galaxy Note 7 aboard airlines).
Samsung did not immediately respond to the incident.
“We are aware of an incident involving one of our devices”, a Samsung spokesperson said. The DGCA has summoned Samsung offcials in light of the matter.
A picture of the exploded Samsung Note 2 device. This mobile handset will be further examined by the concerned departments.
A Samsung spokesman in India had no immediate comment but said the company would issue a statement soon.
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Previously, the DGCA had issued an advisory prohibiting the use of the infamous Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on-board an aircraft.
