Suspected Power Bank Fire Delays Air Seoul Flight at Incheon Airport
Cabin crew extinguished a fire in a passenger’s bag aboard an Air Seoul flight preparing to leave Incheon for Da Nang. All 228 passengers and crew were unharmed, while a replacement aircraft departed two hours and 50 minutes late.
A suspected power bank fire broke out aboard an Air Seoul passenger aircraft at Incheon International Airport shortly before departure for Da Nang, disrupting the flight but causing no casualties.
The incident occurred at about 9 p.m. Thursday on flight RS511 as the aircraft was preparing to take off from South Korea’s main international gateway. The fire began inside a passenger’s bag that had been stored beneath a seat, according to information provided by aviation industry sources. A portable battery was suspected as the cause.
Cabin crew members put out the fire while the aircraft was still on the ground. Firefighters then arrived and checked on the passengers. No injuries or deaths were reported among the 221 passengers and seven crew members aboard, bringing the total number of people on the aircraft to 228.
The fact that the aircraft had not yet departed allowed the response to take place at the airport before the flight entered the air. The reported sequence moved from detection inside the cabin to suppression by crew members and an inspection by firefighters, with the travelers remaining physically unharmed.
The disruption nevertheless produced a substantial delay for passengers traveling to the central Vietnamese coastal city. Air Seoul, a South Korean low-cost carrier, arranged another aircraft for the service rather than continuing the journey on the plane involved in the fire. The replacement flight eventually departed two hours and 50 minutes later than scheduled.
The episode centers attention on portable battery risks in passenger cabins, particularly when a device is packed inside hand luggage and placed beneath a seat. In this case, the suspected battery remained accessible within the cabin rather than being carried in a remote part of the aircraft, and crew members were able to intervene before departure.
Authorities and the airline had not announced casualties, and the available account did not identify the passenger whose bag contained the suspected device. It also did not give details about the extent of damage inside the cabin or the condition of the original aircraft after firefighters completed their checks.
For travelers on RS511, the immediate outcome was a nearly three-hour delay rather than a medical emergency. The replacement aircraft’s departure allowed the Da Nang service to proceed after the on-ground response at Incheon was completed.