SriLankan Airlines flight UL-166 made an emergency landing in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 30th.
The Airbus A330-200 plane flying from Kochi, India, declared an emergency after smoke was noticed emanating from a bag carrying a Lithium Ion battery and two mobile phones.
The crew discharged fire extinguishers into the bag while the plane continued for a safe landing.
All two hundred and two people aboard remained unharmed.
JetBlue flight B6-915 had to divert for an emergency landing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 30th.
The Airbus A321-200 plane heading from John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, to San Francisco, California, was diverted after a lithium battery inside a passenger’s laptop caught fire.
The plane landed safely. All 158 people aboard remained unharmed.
V Air flight ZV-252 had to return and make an emergency landing in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 6th.
The Airbus A321-200 took off for Tokyo, Japan, but had to return shortly afterwards after smoke was seen emanating from a lithium power bank carried by a passenger.
The plane landed uneventfully. All 161 people aboard remained safe.
An advisory panel of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has recommended strict actions for discouraging bulk shipment of lithium batteries through commercial planes.
The recommendations were published by the ICAO on October 1, after a recent meeting of the advisory group was held in Cologne, Germany, in September.
The group has also suggested to re-assess the fire detection systems in terms of their ability of respond quickly and to limit the battery shipments to cargo compartments with excellent fire-suppression capability.
In July 2010, 2 people were killed after a shipment of batteries caught fire and caused a Boeing Co 747 cargo plane, operated by United Parcel Service Inc., to crash in Dubai.