Southwest Flight Evacuated After Samsung Device Emitted Smoke -- Update
October 05 2016 - 5:24PM
Dow Jones News
By Georgia Wells
Smoke coming from a Samsung Electronics Co. device prompted
Southwest Airlines Co. to evacuate a flight on Wednesday.
A customer on board Southwest Flight 994 from Louisville, Ky.,
to Baltimore noticed smoke coming from the device before the plane
took off, Southwest said.
Neither Samsung nor the airline identified what model of Samsung
device was involved. "Until we are able to retrieve the device, we
cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note 7," a
Samsung spokeswoman said, referring to the Galaxy Note 7 phones
that were prone to catching fire.
Samsung is working with authorities and Southwest to recover the
device and confirm the cause of smoke, she said.
In September, Samsung initiated a recall to replace 1 million
Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in the U.S. that could ignite due to
faulty lithium-ion batteries. Shortly after, the Federal Aviation
Administration urged passengers to avoid using Note 7 smartphones
entirely on board airlines.
Many airlines began ordering travelers to turn off their Note 7
phones before boarding the aircraft.
The passengers on the Southwest flight exited safely through the
main cabin door, according to Southwest. There were 75 people
aboard, including passengers and crew, according to the Louisville
International Airport public safety department, which said it
responded to the incident at 9:20 a.m.
"We encourage our customers to comply with the FAA Pack Safe
guidelines, " Southwest said.
Last month, Samsung began replacing the phones with new devices
equipped with different batteries. The recall was dogged by
conflicting information and Samsung's failure at the outset to
coordinate efforts with U.S. safety authorities.
--Doug Cameron contributed to this article.
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 05, 2016 17:09 ET (21:09 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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