- A British Airways flight preparing to depart Tokyo's Haneda Airport for London was forced to return to its stand after a passenger's smartphone caught fire.
- No injuries were reported among the 211 passengers and crew, and the fire was extinguished by cabin crew before the flight departed approximately an hour behind schedule.
- This incident follows another recent mobile phone-related fire on a British Airways flight from London to Las Vegas, which also resulted in no injuries but prompted an emergency landing.
- Aviation authorities worldwide are increasingly concerned about fires involving rechargeable electronic devices, particularly lithium-ion batteries, due to their potential for thermal runaway.
- Due to these dangers, international aviation rules generally require passengers to carry such devices in hand luggage, and Japan has recently tightened restrictions on portable batteries on flights.
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