Source: Simon Hradecky | www.avherald.com

An AirAsia Airbus A320-200N, registration 9M-AGL performing flight AK-130 from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Hong Kong (China), was enroute at FL350 about 200nm south of Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) when a backup battery for a mobile phone suffered a rapid thermal runaway causing fire, that burned the owner of the phone (26) at his left arm, left leg, left buttocks and the back of left thigh, overall about 20% of skin surface. Cabin crew extinguished the fire, cooled the battery down, secured it in a safe container and provided first aid to the passenger, while the flight crew diverted the aircraft to Ho Chi Minh City where the aircraft landed safely about 35 minutes later. The passenger was taken to a hospital and following treatment could be discharged the following day.

A replacement A320-200N registration 9M-AGX reached Hong Kong the following day with a delay of 17 hours.

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 20.5 hours, then resumed service.