Headphones Explode Mid-Flight, Injure Australian Woman

An Australian woman was injured after her headphones exploded mid-flight. (Image via ATSB)

The safety of battery-powered electronics is still an issue, with the ongoing problems related to lithium-ion powered products, like hoverboards and smartphones. We can now add battery-powered headphones to this list, after an Australian woman received burns on her face and neck when her headphones exploded mid-flight.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), the incident occurred about two hours into a flight from Beijing to Melbourne. The passenger fell asleep with her headphones on, and was woken up by the sound of a loud bang.

"As I went to turn around, I felt burning on my face," she told the ATSB. "I just grabbed my face, which caused the headphones to go around my neck. I continued to feel burning so I grabbed them off and threw them on the floor. The were sparking and had small amounts of fire."

As she started stamping out the fire with her feet, the flight attendants used a bucket of water to extinguish the fire. The headphones stayed in the bucket, but the battery and cover "were both melted and stuck to the floor of the aircraft."

She added that passengers "were coughing and choking the entire way home" because of the smell.

A spokesperson for the ATSB told The Daily Mail that the brand of the headphones "wasn't important," but added that there have been several incidents with lithium-ion batteries on airplanes, citing tablets as a problem in particular.

The passenger walked off the plane with soot covering her face, singed hair and eyebrows, and blistered hands.

The ATSB laid out instructions for traveling with battery-powered devices, including stowing batteries in approved storage, bringing spare batteries in carry-on luggage and more.