India
IndiGo Flight Diverted to Hyderabad After Power Bank Fire in Overhead Compartment
A Chennai‑bound IndiGo flight was diverted to Hyderabad on Sunday after a fire erupted in the overhead luggage compartment caused by a malfunctioning power bank. The aircraft landed safely at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, and the incident prompted a safety scare among passengers. A video recorded by a passenger on a mobile phone has circulated on social media, showing passengers attempting to smother the flames with their bags. The footage captures the chaotic scene as the crew and passengers worked to extinguish the fire.
The incident was reported by Garvit Bhirani, a journalist based in Gurugram. Bhirani is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories. He has six years of journalism experience, having previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google as a news curation lead, and reported on health, education, and agriculture for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations.
Bhirani holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college, he joined India’s only non‑profit student journalism network, anchoring daily news updates and producing a weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune.
He has certificates in COVID‑19 verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from the Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, the US Mission in India, and AFP. Bhirani can be reached on LinkedIn or on X at @garvitbhirani.
Frequently asked questions
What caused the IndiGo flight to be diverted?
A malfunctioning power bank caused a fire in the overhead luggage compartment.
Where did the flight land after diversion?
The aircraft landed safely at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.
What did the passenger video show?
The video showed passengers attempting to smother the flames with their bags and the crew and passengers working to extinguish the fire.