Crushed Phone Ignites On Qantas Flight

Qantas Airways Ltd. is warning all passengers of the risk of phones catching fire on board after a device with a lithium battery was crushed inside a seat and ignited on a flight to New York. Crew have started to tell customers not to move their seats to hunt for their electronic devices, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a report on Wednesday into the June 21 incident. A spokeswoman for Qantas in Sydney said the briefings are now on all flights. The fire started in the business class on a flight from Los Angeles to New York as crew searched for a passenger’s phone. The device became crushed inside the seating mechanism, immediately hissed and smoked, and then ignited.