A flight from Delhi to Chennai diverted to Hyderabad on 11 October after a passenger's power bank caught fire in an overhead locker, becoming the latest in a string of lithium-battery scares on Indian carriers.
IndiGo flight 6E 6115 left Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1.30pm with more than 180 people on board. Smoke was spotted coming from the overhead compartment partway into the Airbus A321's journey, and videos shared online showed visible flames inside the bin. Cabin crew responded with onboard firefighting equipment while some passengers tried to smother the fire with bags and cloth. One passenger was filmed urging others to stay calm.
The crew brought the fire under control, but the pilots diverted to Hyderabad as a precaution, landing safely at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 3.59pm — roughly where the aircraft would have been on its way to a 4pm arrival in Chennai. Nobody was hurt. IndiGo arranged a replacement aircraft to complete the journey and said it was offering affected passengers refreshments and updates.
It is the third such incident on IndiGo in about 18 months. In May this year, a power bank fire on a flight arriving in Chandigarh from Hyderabad spread smoke and flames through the cabin and forced an emergency evacuation that sent six people to hospital. In October last year, another power bank caught fire in a seat-back pocket on a Delhi to Dimapur flight as it taxiied for take-off, sending the plane back to the stand.
The worry is not unique to India. Lithium-ion batteries — found in power banks, phones and laptops — can overheat and ignite, and fires in the cabin are far easier to fight than one hidden in the hold. That's why power banks are banned from checked luggage worldwide and must travel in the cabin, where crew can spot trouble fast. India's aviation regulator, the DGCA, went further last year, telling airlines to stop passengers using power banks to charge devices mid-flight.
For anyone flying, the practical lessons are simple. Keep power banks in your hand luggage, never your checked bag. Check the capacity rating — most airlines cap them at 100Wh without approval. Don't charge devices from a power bank on board where rules prohibit it, and if you notice a device getting hot, swelling or smelling of burning, tell crew immediately rather than waiting it out. A battery fire escalates in seconds, and the Hyderabad landing shows both how fast things go wrong and how well-trained crews can contain them.
