Replacement Samsung Note 7 Phone Emits Smoke On US Plane

Louisville, Ky.: A replacement model of the troubled Samsung Note 7 smartphone began smoking inside a U.S. plane on Wednesday, the family which owned it said, signalling that Samsung's solution to its recent scandal may not have worked.

Indiana passenger Brian Green's phone began emitting smoke inside a Southwest Airlines Co flight to Baltimore from Louisville, Kentucky, his wife, Sarah, told Reuters after speaking with her husband. She said that Green had replaced the original phone about two weeks ago after getting a text message from Samsung.

Samsung said in a statement it was working to recover the device and to understand the cause. "Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note7," it said.

Southwest in a statement said the flight was evacuated after a customer reported smoke from a Samsung device.

Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, announced a global recall of at least 2.5 million of its flagship Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets last month due to faulty batteries causing some phones to catch fire. The recall was a major embarrassment for Samsung.

The Verge, which earlier reported the incident, quoted Brian Green as saying the phone was a replacement, and it posted a picture taken by him of the packaging that was similar to Samsung's description of a replacement phone box, with a black square on the identifying label.

Green, picked up the new phone at an AT&T Inc store on Sept. 21, the Verge said.

All passengers and crew exited the plane and no injuries were reported, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)