When we talk about a smartphone exploding, our minds rewind to the Galaxy Note 7 2016 event. To date, that event remains the most widespread “smartphone exploding” event. Recall that at the time, Samsung had to recall the Galaxy Note 7 at a huge cost. A recent report shows that Samsung is still in the game of “smartphone exploding”. According to the report, an Alaska Airlines passenger plane (flight 751) evacuated after landing at the Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, the United States on Monday. The plan had to land for emergency evacuation because a passenger’s Samsung Galaxy A21 mobile phone burst into flames.
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This explosion was in no way a minor event as there was enough fire and flame that necessitated the emergency landing and evacuation. On sighting the “small fire”, the airplane crew had to use battery containment bags and fire extinguishers to “stop the phone from smoking”. Nevertheless, the airline evacuated the passengers and transported them back to the airport by bus. Thankfully, the incident occurred just after landing at the airport and the airline handled the issue pretty well.
Perry Cooper, a spokesperson for the Port of Seattle, said in an email to The Seattle Times, “After much digging, I can tell you that the phone was burned beyond recognition. However, during an interview with one of our Port of Seattle Police officers, the passenger volunteered the phone was a Samsung Galaxy A21. Again, we could not confirm it by looking at the remains of the device.”
No fatalities
In all, out of the 129 passengers and 6 crew members in the airplane, there is no report of any significant fatalities. Nevertheless, two of the passengers had to go to the hospital for treatment. Reports show that Alaska Airlines and its regional airline Horizon Air introduced special battery sealing bags for the crew. This device is for any lithium battery that enters the “thermal runaway” process. The battery containment bag is completely fireproof and can handle temperatures of up to 1760 degrees. This device was put to good use in this situation.
The Samsung Galaxy A21 is a 2020 entry-level smartphone that comes with a 4000 mAh battery. It is important to note that any device with a lithium-ion battery is at potential risk of fire explosion. This is obviously an isolated case and does not mean that the Galaxy A21 has any issues. Over the years, there have been multiple isolated events across multiple brands. This does not mean that the smartphones or batteries are bad.
