Not long after a Delta flight from Norfolk, Virginia, was scheduled to leave for Atlanta on Friday, passengers on the plane reported a small cellphone battery fire on board.
“It quickly became evident that the source of the smoke was from a spare battery not affixed to a device,” Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said.
The incident comes one day after Samsung recalled the newly released Galaxy Note7’s battery.
Though Delta officials aren’t sure if the battery came from that particular phone, Durrant said Galaxy Note7 users were told before boarding the flight to turn off their phones and not charge them.
Flight 2557 was scheduled to leave for Atlanta about 5:15 a.m. Moments after it took off, passengers smelled smoke on the plane.
Virginia Pilot reporter Robyn Sidersky was just one row behind the incident and told Channel 2 Action News she thought the engine may have been on fire.
“(I was) sitting right near the engine, so the first thing you’re thinking is: ‘Oh, my God, the engine’s on fire. What are we going to do?’” she said. “We’re in the air and we just took off.”
Durrant said flight attendants acted quickly to put out the smoke.
None of the 143 passengers were injured, he said.
Delta is working with aviation safety officials to determine the battery type and how it caught on fire.
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