Plane Evacuated After ‘Safe’ Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Catches Fire

Samsung has had a huge recall of its latest flagship, due to dangerously heating up with a lot of its devices

A Samsung Note 7 phone. (Photo: samsung.com)

A Southwest Airlines flight was evacuated at Louisville airport on Wednesday just before take-off after smoke started coming out of a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on the flight, reported The Verge.

Significantly, the phone was a replaced Galaxy Note 7 that Samsung had declared safe. The company has already had a huge recall of its latest flagship phones, with many of them dangerously heating up and even catching fire.

The flight was preparing for take-off at 9.20 am local time when the pilots were informed about the smoke in the cabin.

Brian Green, the owner of the phone, said that he had exchanged his Note 7 on 21 September and the box had specified that it was a replaced model.

Green said that he switched off his phone and it fell. He saw grey and green smoke coming out of the phone after that. The phone burnt the carpet of the flight and even scorched the subfloor of the plane.

He also added that the phone’s battery was at 80 percent and he had only been using wireless charging since he got the phone.

Samsung issued a statement after the incident.

Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note 7. We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share. 

Source: The Verge