Samsung Galaxy J7 catches fire on Jet Airways flight

After the Galaxy Note 7 debacle last year, it looks like Samsung has a new reason to worry as a Galaxy J7 smartphone mysteriously caught on fire mid-air in a Jet Airways flight travelling from New Delhi to Indore on Friday. None of the 120 passengers on board were harmed and the crew managed to put out the fire by submerging the device in water.
The Galaxy J7 smartphone belonged to Arpita Dhal, a Delhi resident who had kept the phone with three other handsets in her handbag under the seat.
Hindustan Times reports. Dhal noticed smoke emitting from the bag 15 minutes into the flight and called the crew for help. The crew tried to douse the fire with extinguishers on board that did not work, says Atul, Arpita's husband. "It was a mid-air panic. We prayed to god," Atul said.

The crew then decided to put the phone in a tray of water to put out the fire along with Arpita's other phones just for precaution. "I will complain against Jet Airways after I return home. This is a question of safety of passengers in flights. If there is a major fire or blast what will they do when their fire extinguishers don't work like this," Arpita told HT.
A Jet Airways spokesperson confirmed that the incident was resolved "as per guidelines". "It was observed on board Jet Airways' flight 9W 791 Delhi-Indore that smoke was emitting from a guest hand bag. Jet Airways crew immediately took charge of the situation, as also all necessary steps as precautionary measure, and as per the prescribed guidelines," the spokesperson said.

India Today Tech reached out to Samsung India for a response into the incident and we will update the post as soon as we hear something. Meanwhile, commenting on the matter, Samsung spokerperson informed BGR, "We are in touch with relevant authorities for more information. At Samsung, customer safety is top priority."

While so far this is a one-off incident and the exact reason behind the fire is still not know. It is also too early in the day to know whether the Galaxy J7 is facing a similar issue as the Galaxy Note 7 from last year. To recall, there were numerous reports last year of the phablet spontaneously catching on fire which resulted in the phone's early demise. It is possible that Arpita's phone caught on fire due to faulty battery possibly from a third-party source, but it is all conjecture for now. We will know more once Samsung has completed its investigation.