Smartphone catches fire on British Airways flight at Tokyo airport

A British Airways flight preparing to depart Tokyo Haneda for London returned to its stand after a passenger’s smartphone caught fire, prompting crew to extinguish the blaze and conduct safety checks. The incident occurred as the aircraft began taxiing shortly after 1:00 pm local time, with 211 passengers and crew aboard, and forced an immediate stand‑stop while authorities inspected the cabin. Cabin crew used an onboard extinguisher to tackle the smoke before firefighters boarded to complete checks, and the flight subsequently departed about an hour behind schedule. There were no injuries reported, according to Japanese transport officials.