Passenger's iPhone Catches Fire on Board, Haneda Airport on Alert

(Central News Agency, Tokyo, June 18, Foreign News) A British Airways passenger plane, prior to its departure from Haneda Airport in Japan today, experienced a fire from a passenger's smartphone, an iPhone, on board. This led to the aircraft returning to the tarmac for a period, and fire services were on standby with 10 fire-related vehicles.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, the Tokyo Airport Office, the governing body of Tokyo Haneda Airport, stated that the flight was bound for London, England, and was scheduled to depart at 1:05 PM today. The incident occurred while the aircraft was taxiing from the tarmac to the runway. At that time, a passenger's smartphone caught fire and began emitting smoke, and those on board extinguished the flames using the aircraft's onboard fire extinguishers.

The Tokyo Airport Office reported that as of 1:30 PM today, there were no reports of injuries or discomfort.

The British Airways (BA) flight had a total of 211 passengers and crew members.

The Tokyo Airport Office indicated that the flight initially canceled its takeoff and returned to the tarmac, but after confirming safety, it departed as originally planned.

According to Fuji News Network (FNN), police stated that the fire was later extinguished by the cabin crew; fire services had initially dispatched 10 fire-related vehicles to the scene as a precaution.

The aircraft departed approximately 1 hour after the incident. (Compiled by Yang Wei-ching) 1150618

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