Uh-Oh, Looks Like Samsung’s Replacement Phones May Also Be Exploding

More bad news for Samsung this morning it seems — reports are emerging that a flight scheduled to leave Louisville Kentucky yesterday morning was delayed after a Samsung cellphone caught fire.

Now this would be almost expected news at this point — Samsung phones have been combusting for the last few weeks — but according to reporting in the Verge, the phone in question was “a replacement Galaxy Note 7.”

A Samsung spokeswoman said in a statement on Wednesday that the company was unable to immediately confirm which device was involved in the episode.

“We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause,” the statement said. “Once we have examined the device, we will have more information to share.”

Last month Samsung announced it would be recalling and replacing 2.5 million of the smartphone models because of a flaw in the battery’s cell that could result in the devices bursting into flames or exploding.

According to the Verge, the phone’s owner had picked up his replacement Note on Sept. 21, after the recall. The new models had been approved by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC has confirmed it will be investigating the incident.

In a statement, the commission chairman, Elliot F. Kaye, encouraged owners of the smartphone to turn it off and immediately participate in the recall.

According to eye-witness reports from within the flight, the phone in question caught fire while in the process of powering down.  The phone was stomped out as it caught fire.

“I did not see any of the passengers lose control,” one witness noted. “One woman was kind of buzzing around a lot, but nobody lost control. The airline was working as hard as it could.”

The same witness also noted that she was grateful the plane was still grounded when the phone combusted.

“This could have happened moments after we took off, or in the air,” she said. “It could have been catastrophic.”