A BRITISH Airways plane had to make an emergency landing after a portable phone charger exploded and caught fire at 30,000ft.
Passengers screamed on the flight from London to Las Vegas when the device charging a phone in a seat pocket blew up during Monday’s flight.
Snaps obtained by The Sun showed a folded-tray table covered in soot.
A pilot was recorded telling air traffic controllers in the US: “We’re trying to keep the panic to a minimum.”
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed safely in Vegas.
A source told The Sun: “The pilot told air traffic controllers there was panic onboard, and he was not wrong.
“The explosion, fire, then smell of smoke was terrifying. It was as if a bomb had gone off.
“People thought it might be a terrorist incident.
“The passenger charging their phone panicked when it began smouldering and threw the device over their head as it exploded in the air.
“The device was so hot it scorched the cabin floor where it landed. It was pandemonium onboard.
“Crew acted brilliantly and put the fireball out with a Hafex extinguisher. It had melted part of the seat and the floor. Scorch marks were everywhere.
“It was a very scary experience. The issue of power banks must be addressed before one of the chargers blows a hole in the side of a plane.”
Power banks are causing a growing number of serious issues on flights worldwide, the UK’s aviation regulator has warned as it encouraged passengers to check the rules.
Jonathan Nicholson from the Civil Aviation Authority, said that restrictions such as not putting the devices in checked luggage were not “for the sake of it”.
It comes after The Sun revealed how a UK-bound EasyJet flight was diverted to Rome because a passenger had packed a charging power bank in hold luggage.
Last night, British Airways told The Sun of the incident on approach to Las Vegas: “The safety of our customers and crew is the highest priority, the flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally.”
