Passengers on United Airlines Flight 2664, which was heading Tuesday morning from San Diego International Airport in California to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, experienced tense moments due to an emergency in the cabin.
A lithium-ion battery caught fire when the aircraft had barely been in the air for a few minutes, so he had to return to California. Four people were hospitalized, authorities said.
The plane, a Boeing 737, had left San Diego at 7:07 a.m. and returned at 7:51 a.m., according to data from the Flight Aware platform. United Airlines said the return was “after a customer’s battery caught fire.”
Preliminary sources at the airport indicated that the fire originated from a laptop. While, in a later version, the San Diego Fire Department claimed that it was due to an external battery that was connected to a passenger’s mobile phone. After the maneuvers, they managed to prevent the fire from spreading.
After the plane’s arrival, customers were checked on the spot, according to United Airlines. For his part, andThe San Diego Fire Department reported that seven people were injured and four of them were taken to a trauma center. from the University of California at San Diego.
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As United Airlines explained in a statement, all or almost all of the people who went to the medical center are crew members who were exposed to fire while controlling the fire. Other wounded refused to go to the hospital.
The fire was caused by the battery of a first-class passenger on Flight 2664. Crew members had to act quickly to contain the device, the airline added.
In statements recorded by NBC San Diego, Anne-Marie Buckland, who traveled to visit her daughter, relived the scare she had at the time. “She was sitting (…) and I grabbed the girl who was next to me and we held on to each other.
I realized how much my family means to me, how much my children mean to me,” she said. “So I prayed and I have faith that God wants me to have a beautiful life and that there’s a lot more to come, so that kept me going.”
He also shared the message he sent to a relative. “Dear. There’s a fire on the plane and we’re turning around. I love you with all myself”. The affected flight departed later.
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