A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosion aboard a Southwest Airlines flight Wednesday morning forced the evacuation of the plane before takeoff in Lousiville.
Flight 994 passenger Brian Green told WHAS-TV he was powering down his phone when it overheated and started smoking. He threw it down, and it singed the carpet of the plane. No one was injured and no significant damage to the plane was caused by the incident, the station reported.
Passengers were quickly evacuated, the flight to Baltimore was canceled, and the plane has been grounded until a full investigation can be conducted, WHAS-TV reported.
“I saw the flight attendant go up to the front and there seemed to be some commotion and then the next thing that you know it was yelled out that it was smoke, and I turned around and I see smoke coming from a few seats behind me and at this point in time. Everyone is panicked because they don't know what's going on," passenger Taneka Lindsay told the station.
Green's wife, Sarah Green, told the Courier-Journal her husband's Galaxy Note 7 was a replacement after Samsung recalled the model in September over fire and burn hazards.
"I would love to know why the replacement phone is doing what the other one was doing," she said.
Concerns about the device catching fire led Federal Aviation Administration to warn travelers a month ago to avoid turning on or charging the phones while flying.
Lori Crabtree, a spokeswoman for the airline, told Bloomberg there was "just smoke — no explosion or flames of any kind,” during the incident.
"We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause," Samsung said in a statement, according to USA Today.
Samsung said the Galaxy Note 7's earlier problems occurred because the battery was slightly too big for its compartment and the tight space pinched the battery, causing it to short circuit, Bloomberg reported, adding that last year batteries smoked or caught fire on U.S. aircraft at least 17 times.
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