Video captures chaos onboard plane as laptop smoke triggers evacuation
A video shared online captures the chaos as a laptop with a faulty battery filled an airplane cabin with smoke, triggering an evacuation.
The Associated Press reports that the incident occurred Friday at San Francisco International Airport. The Miami-bound American Airlines flight 2045 was still boarding and parked at the gate when the crew reported smoke from a passenger’s laptop bag.
In a video shared by FL360aero, passengers can be seen standing in the aisles as a flight attendant shouts, “Just keep going. Move that way. Out that way! Go out. Go forward, go forward. Do not take your bags!”
Latest video footage shows the tensed moments after a laptop battery caught fire inside the American Airlines flight at SFO.
Flight attendants and the pilot can be heard asking passengers to leave their bags and get off the plane.
At least three people were injured during the… https://t.co/KHXT3dxqFm pic.twitter.com/QW5eeY9tKs
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) July 13, 2024
Passenger Jan Jankai told ABC News that the smoke smelled like “burned cables” and that as the smoke got more intense, he said, “We thought we would pass out.”
Jankai, who was travelling with his father, said the smoking laptop bag, which eventually caught fire, was under his father’s seat. His father then threw the bag out of the emergency door exit.
The airline stated that some passengers exited from the jet bridge, and others used emergency slides.
At least three people were injured during the evacuation.
In a tweet, the Federal Aviation Administration warned that failing lithium batteries “can cause a device to feel hot, swell, smoke and even catch on fire.”
A failing lithium battery can cause a device to feel hot, swell, smoke and even catch on fire. On your next flight – if you SEE it, HEAR it, or SMELL it, say something to your cabin crew right away. Learn how to #PackSafe at https://t.co/2dIL0Dph8Y. https://t.co/52jamjfDru
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) July 13, 2024
The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed that the cause was a battery fire, which had been put out before they arrived.
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