Smoke fills cabin of Southwest flight after coffee pot catches fire

November 10, 2019

Source: Sahar Esfandiari | markets.businessinsider.com

A Southwest Airlines flight travelling from Baltimore, Maryland to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Wednesday was forced to make an emergency landing after a coffee pot on board caught fire and caused the cabin to fill with smoke. Flight WN-811 departed from Baltimore on Wednesday at 8:51 a.m. and was due to arrive in the Dominican Republic at 1:45 p.m. local time, according to Flight Radar 24.

Less than an hour into the flight smoke and an “acrid smell” started to fill the cabin, according to Simple Flying.

A spokeswoman from Southwest Airlines told Business Insider that the flight was diverted to Norfolk International Airport in Virginia to allow crew to address a “malfunctioning coffee pot.”

“The aircraft landed safely at Norfolk. An initial review confirmed a coffee pot in the front galley needed to be replaced and the aircraft was out of service pending further review by our maintenance teams,” said the spokeswoman.

The Airline said the 90 customers and five crew members continued on a different aircraft and arrived about two and a half hours behind schedule.

“We’ve apologized to them for the delay in their arrival but place nothing higher than safety,” the spokeswoman told Business Insider.

An assessment from emergency services found that a coffee pot in the galley of the plane had caught fire and caused the smoke to enter the cabin, but had been extinguished by itself by the time firefighters got to the scene, according to The Aviation Herald. The plane was able to taxi safely and there were no injuries reported, Steven Sterling, deputy executive director of Norfolk International Airport told CBS.

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