More than 100 passengers were forced to evacuate a Southwest flight after one passenger’s cellphone battery caught fire before takeoff.
Southwest Airlines Flight 3316 was still at the gate at Denver International Airport when the phone caught fire and flames spread to a seat on the plane, the airline confirmed to PEOPLE. The November 15 incident happened right before the plane was scheduled to take off for Houston.
All 108 passengers were told to evacuate the plane while crew members “successfully extinguished a fire caused by a burning cell phone,” an airline spokesman said in a statement.
The statement added: “Passengers in the rear of the aircraft used the rear emergency slides, while those in the front of the aircraft exited through the front doors.”
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Passengers from Southwest are evacuating the plane.
Catherine Rios via Storyful
Video footage of the evacuation shows passengers struggling to get their bags out of the overhead compartment as others can be heard repeatedly shouting in the background: “Evacuate! Evacuate now!”
Passengers who tried to grab their belongings before leaving appear to have blocked the aisle, prompting those sitting at the back of the plane to shout: “Leave your belongings, get out!”
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Southwest passengers grab their belongings during the evacuation.
Catherine Rios via Storyful
In the event of an emergency, all passengers must leave their belongings, as instructed in the pre-flight safety briefing. Failure to do so can delay evacuation, as seen in the video, and put passengers and crew at risk.
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Southwest passengers evacuate the plane after the fire is extinguished.
Catherine Rios via Storyful
After a while, another person is heard saying “the fire is out” and the passengers continue to evacuate through the back of the plane.
After the incident, Southwest says they “placed the passengers on another aircraft to their original destination” and have since been “in contact with customers on the flight.” They added that the incident currently “remains under investigation”.
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The fire happened the same day another Southwest flight was hit by a bullet before takeoff at Dallas Love Field Airport.
Southwest Flight 2494 was ready to take off at Indianapolis International Airport when it was “hit by gunfire near the cockpit,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
Although it was not immediately clear where the shooting came from, none of the passengers on the Boeing 737-800 were injured, the airline confirmed to PEOPLE at the time.
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