A commercial flight operated by Air China was safely diverted to Shanghai, China on October 18 after a passenger's battery was stored in the carry-on baggage of a burning passenger.
The incident occurred on an daily flight of Air China from Hangzhou City, eastern China to Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, South Korea.
"A lithium battery caught fire in a passenger's carry-on baggage stored in the storage compartment above on Flight CA139. The crew immediately handled the situation according to procedures and no one was injured," Air China said in a statement.
The crashed plane was diverted to make an emergency landing at the East Village International Airport in Shanghai "to ensure flight safety".
A photo taken by a passenger and posted by state media agency Jimu News shows the fire breaking out from the storage compartment above.
The image shows black smoke rising in the cabin and at least one passenger trying to put out the fire.
Data from the Flightradar24 flight tracking website shows that the flight took off from Hangzhou at 9:47 a.m. on October 18, local time.
The plane turned around at sea between the east coast of China and Kyushu Island, south of Japan, before landing in Shanghai at around 11am the same day, local time.
