E-cigarette causes mid-air fire alarm

SEPANG - Is flight safety being compromised with no restrictions currently being enforced on carrying electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes in hand or cabin luggage?

Are the heating elements of the vaporisers, a component of e-cigarettes, a fire hazard in an aircraft in flight?

On Saturday, it was a hard lesson learnt by a "vaper" on board a Malindo Air flight when an e-cigarette he was carrying in his handbag ignited a fire causing him to suffer minor injuries.

The Boeing 737 aircraft had taken off at about 6.45pm from Kota Kinabalu and was bound for KLIA2 when the incident occurred in mid-air, leaving dozens of other passengers briefly shocked.

Sepang police chief ACP Abdul Aziz Ali said today that the man had placed his luggage on his lap when he was shaken up on feeling intense heat coming out of it.

"He opened the bag and found that the power button on his e-cigarette had accidentally switched on and the heat of the heating element had burned through the bag injuring his thigh and fingers. The fire was quickly put out and the man was quickly attended to by flight crew. It was a minor incident." he told theSun.

Abdul Aziz said the man lodged a report soon after the flight landed at klia2 at 8.45pm.

He said the airline had not notified the police on the matter.

By Charles Ramendran