Over 100 passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight evacuated the aircraft after a passenger’s cell phone battery caught fire while waiting to depart Denver International Airport.

The incident occurred while the plane was still at the gate.

“Panic erupts on a Southwest flight in Denver as passengers rush to evacuate when a cellphone battery ignites. According to the airline, the owner of the phone is being treated for burns, while another passenger was injured during the chaos,” Fox News wrote.

WATCH:

Emergency response crews successfully extinguished the fire.

CPR News reports:

Passengers at the back of the plane were evacuated using emergency slides, while those closer to the front used the front door to exit the Boeing 737 aircraft.

According to data from FlightAware, the airline arrived three hours late to its destination at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston.

“The incident remains under investigation,” Southwest Airlines told CPR News in a statement.

From the New York Post:

According to eyewitnesses, a passenger’s smartphone started smoking, filling the cabin with acrid fumes, and causing a seat to catch fire, CNN reported.

Passengers were subsequently ordered to evacuate with flyers in the front exiting via the jet bridge while those in the rear of the aircraft slid down the emergency chute to safety, as seen in dramatic video footage.

Meanwhile, crew members used a fire extinguisher to douse the flaming sky seat, Fox News reported.

Fly-witness Jaquetta Anderson recounted the chaotic scene.

“There’s nowhere to go, because they were exiting through the back of the plane. And so I kind of got pushed around a little bit,” she said. “People were yelling leave your stuff. But I actually had two dogs with me, and I wasn’t going to leave them.”

Miraculously, only two passengers were hurt during the mad dash: One passenger was reportedly injured during the evacuation while the passenger whose phone ignited the blaze had to be treated for burns on their hand, the airline said in a statement.

In related news, a bullet struck near the cockpit of a Southwest Airlines flight departing Dallas Love Field Airport before taking off.

Mystery Bullet Hits Southwest Plane At Dallas Airport

 

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