Jordan Golson, reporting for The Verge, is writing that the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is opening an investigation into yesterday’s incident when Southwest Airlines flight 994 from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated while still at the gate because of a smoking Note 7.
A spokesperson for the airline told The Verge that all passengers and crew exited the plane through the main cabin door and no injuries were reported.
“More worrisome is the fact that the phone in question was a replacement Galaxy Note 7, one that was deemed to be safe by Samsung,” reads the article.
Samsung has attempted to wash its hands of the incident, providing the following questionable statement to The Verge:
Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note7. We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share.
Brian Green, owner of the exploding Note 7, said he had picked up his replacement Note 7 at an AT&T store on September 21 shortly after a global recall of Samsung’s flagship smartphone was announced.
Here’s Green’s recollection of the incident:
Green said that he had powered down the phone as requested by the flight crew and put it in his pocket when it began smoking. He dropped it on the floor of the plane and a “thick grey-green angry smoke” was pouring out of the device. Green’s colleague went back onto the plane to retrieve some personal belongings and said that the phone had burned through the carpet and scorched the subfloor of the plane.
Green says he only used a wireless charger since receiving the replacement Note 7, suggesting an issue with a built-in battery probably caused it to went ablaze on the plane. The phone’s IMEI passed Samsung’s recall eligibility checker, yielding a “Great News!” message saying that the device is not affected by the recall.
Be that as it may, his Note 7 is now in possession of the Louisville Fire Department’s arson unit for investigation. More worryingly for Samsung, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has opened an investigation into the incident.
As for Green, he has already replaced his exploded Note 7 replacement with a brand spanking new iPhone 7, Golson reports. As if Samsung didn’t already have a lot on its plate with exploding Note 7 devices, now it’s facing a potentially even more dangerous crisis where even Note 7 replacements seem to be catching fire.
Source: The Verge