Woman’s Headphones Explode during Flight

Lithium ion batteries have exploded in electronic devices more times that we care to think about in all sorts of electronic devices over the years. It all started many years ago when laptop batteries were blowing up in multiple brands of computers. The most recent issue with battery fires was with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and eventually Samsung pulled the device off the market.

Now a set of headphones, presumably of the wireless noise cancelling variety, have had a battery explode while they were on a woman’s head during an airline flight reports Mashable. The flight was from Beijing to Melbourne and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says that the woman was sleeping when the explosion woke her.

“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 said. “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.”

While the image looks rather dramatic, the worst issue the woman suffered were blisters on her hands from the fire and she required no medical attention. After the headphones exploded, the woman tried to stomp out the fire and eventually the flight crew poured a bucket of water on the headphones to put out the flames.

Word is that the passengers coughed the remainder of the flight as the smell of melted plastic and burnt hair filled the aircraft. The ATSB didn’t identify the brand of headphones that caught fire stating that it was a battery issue, not a headphone issue.