An overheated battery is suspected to be the cause of a fire in the overhead locker of a passenger flight landing in Tasmania.

The Hobart-bound Boeing 737-8FE, operated by Virgin Australia, took off from Sydney this morning.



Around 9am, it was beginning its descent to Hobart when the blaze broke out in an overhead cabin.

After smoke began entering the cabin, the fire was extinguished by crew while the aircraft was still in the air.

Virgin Australia said the plane landed safely at Hobart Airport and was then boarded by firefighters from Airservices Australia, who "removed a bag from the overhead locker".

Hobart Airport chief operating officer Matt Cocker said all passengers disembarked safely — but paramedics treated one person for "suspected smoke inhalation".

Airport worker told of 'small ball of fire'​

Sam McCambridge was not on the flight but works for a rental car company at Hobart Airport.

He said two separate groups of passengers told him flight attendants extinguished the fire with water after realising "a lithium battery or some sort of charging device had caught fire in someone's bag".

"First customer I had this morning let me know that he was on a bit of a hairy flight coming into Hobart. He said they were about 10 minutes out from landing when … they were made aware of some smoke and a bit of a funny smell coming from one of the overhead lockers."

They described seeing a "small ball of fire" burst out of the smoking overhead compartment when it was opened, he said.

"They did say there was a lot of hysterical people when the incident was happening and especially when that fire ball came out," Mr McCambridge said.

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Mr McCambridge said he was told the "flight crew was very calm and very good at handling the situation".



The aircraft was assessed for damage and a replacement aircraft was sourced for the return flight, which was delayed by about five hours.

All other flights at Hobart Airport were not impacted by the incident and ran as scheduled.

Virgin Australia has not confirmed the cause of the fire.

Rules tightening on luggage​

According to the Virgin Australia website, lithium batteries are generally permitted as cabin baggage — with some restrictions.



The website warned that batteries "pose a unique hazard during air transport" and "can cause a fire if not transported correctly".

Airlines in other countries recently began tightening regulations on carrying batteries on flights following multiple fire and overheating incidents.

Lithium batteries are commonly found in smartphones and other devices.

South Korea banned passengers from storing power banks and e-cigarettes in overhead lockers, after a faulty power bank was suspected as the cause of a blaze that engulfed an Air Busan plane in January.

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