LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A fire official says smoke that caused a plane to be evacuated at Louisville International Airport was caused by a Samsung device.
Louisville Metro Arson Capt. Kevin Fletcher told news outlets that the device overheated Wednesday morning and began to smoke, which led Southwest Airlines to evacuate the plane before it departed for Baltimore.
Airport authority spokeswoman Natalie Chaudoin said 75 people, including crew members, were evacuated from the flight. She says no one was injured.
Fletcher says there was minor damage to the plane’s carpet where the device was dropped.
U.S. safety regulators announced a formal recall last month of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after a spate of fires led to injuries and property damage.
Samsung officially recalled 1 million of its Galaxy Note 7 phones sold before Sept. 15 because of “serious fire and burn hazards.”
By mid-September, Samsung had received 92 reports of batteries in the popular smartphone overheating in the U.S., resulting in 26 instances of burns and 55 of property damage, including fires in cars and a garage, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
