- Fire broke out in the overhead luggage of a Chinese domestic flight CZ3539
- Passengers were delayed for three hours and had to take a replacement flight
- The man whose bag it belonged to was taken in for questioning by authorities
Flight attendants on a China Southern airplane were forced to move quickly after a fire broke out in the overhead storage.
A passenger and a flight attendant are seen throwing a bottle of water and another container of juice onto a bag in the overhead luggage.
Smoke is seen filling the cabin after a power bank caught fire. It continues to rage on but after a couple of attempts they eventually manage to put out the flames.
The fire was put out with the help of fire and security departments and did not cause further damage to the plane.
A passenger and flight attendant try their best to put out a fire in the overhead storage
Passengers were delayed for nearly three hours after the flight from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport departed at 2.53pm China time on a replacement plane, according to live flight tracking site FlightAware.
The passenger whose bag caught alight as people were boarding flight CZ3539 was taken in by police questioning. It is not believed the power bank was in use at the time of the incident.
It does not appear as if there were any injuries from the fire.
Lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electronic devices such as mobile phone, laptops and power banks, are banned as cargo on passenger aircrafts but are usually allowed on as hand luggage.
Eventually the fire is put out by a female flight attendant, and the male passenger in shot throws another bottle to make sure it is completely extinguished
The shocking footage has gone viral on social media, raking thousands of retweets and likes on Twitter.
Shocked viewers expressed their dismay that flight attendants did not use a fire extinguisher on the flames.
Peter O’Tube tweeted: ‘Where’s the portable fire extinguisher?’
Kawasook tweeted: ‘So much wrong with this. That’s a chemical fire. Water will not do.’
Philip added: ‘Shocking treatment of the fire! Aircraft involved is shown to be B-2009, a Boeing 777-300ER, which, at least by European CS-25 standards, should be equipped with at least 4 hand fire extinguishers “conveniently located and evenly distributed”.’