A power bank belonging to former Dutch minister Camiel Eurlings exploded and started a fire on a plane over the Atlantic. The Daily Mail reported the incident on September 18.
A KLM Boeing 777-300ER was flying from Amsterdam to the island of Curaçao. Five and a half hours into the flight, while the aircraft was over the Atlantic, a power bank caught fire in the business-class cabin. According to eyewitnesses, Eurlings had plugged his device in to charge and fallen asleep.
“Suddenly, there was a pop. A fire broke out immediately after: large flames were shooting up from above the seat. The flight attendants responded very quickly and effectively; they spoke to each passenger individually and calmed us down,” a passenger was quoted as saying in the report.
The fire was quickly extinguished, and the plane turned back to Amsterdam. Eurlings sustained minor injuries in the incident.
The airline rebooked the passengers on another flight. KLM’s policy allows passengers to bring electronic devices with lithium batteries rated at 100 watt-hours or less on board; however, using them to charge other devices or charging the power banks themselves during the flight is prohibited.
A similar incident occurred in November 2024 on a flight from Hong Kong to Singapore, where a fire broke out due to an overheated power bank. In that instance, flight attendants promptly extinguished the flames, and no one was injured. In October of the same year, a power bank exploded in the overhead bin of an Air China flight from Hangzhou to Seoul at an altitude of 10,000 meters. The crew decided to make an emergency landing at Shanghai Pudong Airport. Flight attendants extinguished the fire, and no one was injured.
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