The incident took place just moments before take-off.
Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Ibiza were forced to exit their plane via an emergency chute due to a fire on board.
It is reported that the fire was started when a passenger hooked their phone up to an external battery pack and the mobile device then caught fire, with both the phone and the battery pack said to be in a carry-on bag in the overhead compartment.
Early reports of an explosion on board are said to be incorrect.
There were no reported injuries, and all passengers were brought back to the terminal at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, while their luggage was placed on another flight and all passengers were then placed on another flight to their destination.
Speaking to JOE, a Ryanair spokesperson made the following statement:
“Passengers on a Barcelona-Ibiza flight (on the ground in Barcelona) on Tuesday afternoon (31 July) experienced an emergency evacuation caused by a mobile phone catching fire as it was being charged by a battery pack.
“All passengers were safely evacuated back to the terminal and cabin crew dealt with the mobile phone. Ryanair worked to arrange a spare aircraft to re-accommodate these passengers with the minimum delay.”
Footage of the passengers exiting the plane has been posted to social media.
@Ryanair Evacuation today at Barcelona airport due to passenger electronic device #lithiumbattery #cabincrew #cabincrewlife #cabincrewtraining #azafata #flightattendant #aeromoza #TCP #safety #evacuation pic.twitter.com/u8fPFuM6KD
— Cabin Crew Club (@club_cabin) July 31, 2018
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