A Spring Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration B-9965 performing flight 9C8617 from Harbin (China) to Nagoya (Japan), was enroute at 10,400 meters (FL341) about 50nm eastnortheast of Shenyang (China) when passengers observed a fire in one of the overhead lockers. While cabin crew discharged fire extinguishers into the overhead locker and submerged charger (power bank) and smartphone of a passenger, which had caught fire in the overhead lock, in a water container, the flight crew initiated a diversion into Shenyang, where the aircraft landed safely about 23 minutes later. Emergency services did not need to intervene anymore, the cabin crew had brought the situation fully under control and cooled down the charger/batteries.

The aircraft remained on the ground for about 6.5 hours, then continued the journey and reached Nagoya with a total delay of 6.5 hours.

The airline reported a passenger had put his smartphone, connected to a battery driven charger (power bank), into the overhead locker. About 35 minutes after departure passengers observed smoke and fire from the overhead locker. Cabin crew discharged fire extinguishers and subsequently submerged charger containing a Lithium battery and smartphone (also containing a Lithium battery) in a water container effectively extinguishing the fire and stopping the thermal runaway.