This video shows a power bank which caught fire on board a Royal Brunei Airlines flight

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 13, 2019 at 08:20
2 min read
By AFP Indonesia

A video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter which claim it shows passengers and crew on an airplane reacting to a phone that exploded during a flight. The claim is misleading; the video shows the scene on a Royal Brunei Airlines flight after a passenger’s power bank caught fire.

The 84-second clip was published in a Facebook post here on October 9, 2019. It has been viewed more than 175,000 times and shared more than 3,100 times.

It shows airline crew attempting to extinguish a power bank which caught fire in a handbag during a passenger flight.

The post's Indonesian-language caption translates to English as:

“WARNING
Ridiculous passenger.
Boarding a plane but did not switch off the mobile phone, burned and exploded inside her bag. Although it is always told please turn off your mobile phone, because it will interfere with our navigation system,, still being stubborn and have no self-awareness,,!!”

Below is the screenshot of the misleading post:

Screenshot of the misleading post

The same footage was shared with a similar claim on Facebook here, here, and here as well as on Twitter here and here, where it has been viewed more than 584,000 times.

The claim is misleading; the video actually shows the aftermath of a portable battery charger — also known as a power bank — catching fire on a Royal Brunei Airlines flight in January 2019.

A keyword search on Google found the same footage published here on YouTube on January 6, 2019. The Indonesian-language video title translates to English as: “Power bank explodes on a flight when charging a mobile.”

Below is a screenshot comparison between the clip in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R):

Screenshot comparison between the clip in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R)

Malaysian media outlet The Star published a shorter clip from a different angle showing the same scene here on YouTube on January 4, 2019. The video's title states: “Powerbank catches fire on Royal Brunei flight from Hong Kong.”

Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times reported the power bank incident happened on January 3, 2019 during a Royal Brunei Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei.

Royal Brunei published a statement about the incident on its website here on January 3, 2019. The statement's first paragraph reads: “Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) flight BI636, en-route from Hong Kong to Bandar Seri Begawan on 3rd January 2-019 encountered a power bank incident during mid-flight.”

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