British Airways flight from Gatwick to Florida is forced to divert and make emergency landing in Bermuda after business class passenger’s mobile phone starts smoking
- BA 2167 flight from Gatwick was going to Tampa, Florida, on Saturday February 5
- Around two hours from Florida, passengers in business class reported seeing smoke coming from a mobile phone beneath a seat
- The phone had slipped down the side of a passenger’s seat and been crushed when they reclined it
- Captain immediately diverted the plane to Bermuda 60 miles away where the Boeing 777 was met by fire crews
- The flight eventually arrived in Tampa only three hours later than schedules
A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger’s mobile phone overheated and started smoking.
Holidaymakers in the business class section alerted cabin crew when they saw smoke coming from under one of the reclining seats.
The BA 2167 flight from Gatwick to Tampa in Florida flight was diverted to Bermuda and the Boeing 777 was met by fire crews on the runway.
All passengers were ordered off the plane leaving their luggage behind and fire crews boarded the plane to remove the phone.
British Airways flight 2167 from Gatwick to Tampa in Florida on Saturday was forced into an emergency landing after a passenger’s mobile phone overheated and started smoking
Later when the plane took off a member of the crew jokingly announced ‘The phone will never work again’.
A source on board Saturday’s flight told MailOnline: ‘We were about two hours from landing.
‘A passenger sat in business class didn’t know their phone had slipped down the side of his seat and they had pressed a button to automatically recline the seat. Their phone was crushed in the mechanism and began smoking.’
‘It was obviously quite terrifying because we didn’t know if the phone was going to explode.
‘But the captain was very calm, very assured and said that we were only 60 miles from Bermuda so we diverted there.
‘It was all sorted out pretty quickly and we arrived in Tampa only three hours later than expected.’
Lithium-ion batteries that are used in almost all mobile phones and laptops have the potential to overheat and catch fire.
The airline confirmed the captain followed airline protocol for such incidents and land the plane as quickly as possible.
A BA insider said part of the reclining seat had to be removed so the overheated phone could be made safe.
A former BA captain told Mail Online: ‘Any fire on board during flight is the most dangerous event that can happen. The priority is to get the plane on the ground as quickly as possible and this is what the captain has done.’
The flight was diverted to Bermuda 60 miles away where it was met by fire crews who retrieved the phone. Passengers arrived in Tampa only three hours later than planned
A spokesman confirmed the incident, but added: ‘Safety is at the heart of everything we do, and we are very sorry for the delay to our customers’ travel plans.
‘We did everything we could to minimise the delay after our flight diverted to Bermuda as a precaution after a mobile got stuck in a seat and overheated.
‘Our customers were looked after and offered refreshments.’
The phone incident is the latest mid air scare involving a British Airways flight.
MailOnline told last month how a captain had to don an oxygen mask moments from landing when his co-pilot was overcome by fumes in the cockpit.
The captain radioed the control tower when his co-pilot was unable to continue flying the A320 jet from Athens to request an immediate landing at Heathrow Airport.
BA said the incident was due to a ‘fume event’ with aviation insiders saying toxic fumes from the engine had seeped into the cockpit.