Samsung Galaxy A21 catches fire, causing Alaska Airlines to evacuate one of its aircraft

Samsung cannot escape bad press about its smartphones exploding. While the company claims to have come a long since the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, one of its smartphones caught fire on Monday evening. According to The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and The Seattle Times, the fire was started by a Galaxy A21, a smartphone that Samsung released last year.

Reportedly, cabin crew managed to extinguish the fire and place the device in a battery collection bag. While Alaska Airlines Flight 751 had landed, thick smoke coming from the device necessitated all 128 passengers and crew members to be evacuated from the aircraft to the terminal.

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport confirmed that the fire did not impact airport operations and that there were no major injuries. Additionally, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle is quoted by The Seattle Times as follows:

After much digging, I can tell you that the phone was burned beyond recognition. However, during an interview with one of our Port of Seattle Police officers, the passenger volunteered the phone was a Samsung Galaxy A21. Again, we could not confirm it by looking at the remains of the device.

The Airport initially tweeted that the fire happened in the cargo hold. Subsequently, it clarified that the incident 'occurred in the aircraft cabin', implying that the smartphone was actually on or near someone's person at the time. Samsung has not recalled the Galaxy A21, so we imagine that this was a one-off.

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