ATSB
A woman’s headphones exploded mid-flight while traveling from Beijing to Melbourne on Feb. 19. The woman was wearing the headphones and listening to music when they exploded. The unidentified woman suffered burns on her face and hand. I assume these are noise-canceling headphones because you can’t hear any noise if your eardrums are melted.
ATSB
The woman details the moment that the battery-operated headphones exploded:
“As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face. 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. They were sparking and had small amounts of fire.”
Flight attendants helped try to put out the fire by pouring a bucket of water on the headphones. The battery and cover were melted and stuck to the floor.
ATSB
I didn’t even know that Samsung made headphones. Actually, the brand of headphones was not identified by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau because it was a “battery issue, not a headphone issue.”
“The ATSB has assessed that it is the batteries, as the power source, that caught on fire and are therefore the issue… All batteries contain stored energy and are therefore potentially risky,” the report said.
[Mashable]