Kif Leswing and Steve Kovach October 05, 2016 at 09:43AM
For the past few weeks, airlines have been warning passengers at the beginning of flights to power down their Samsung devices after the Korean phone maker was forced to recall some of its smartphones over exploding batteries.
Now we know why the airlines were taking the warning so seriously.
A Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville International Airport to Baltimore was forced to evacuate because a Samsung device overheated and began to smoke, CBS WLKY reports.
A Southwest spokesperson confirmed the evacuation, but only said it was due to smoke coming from an "electronic device." The spokesperson did not specify what the device was.
The Galaxy Note 7 is the only Samsung phone that has been recalled over malfunctioning batteries. Samsung has since released updated Galaxy Note 7 models that it says are free of the battery issues.
However, The Verge spoke to the man who said he owned the phone and that it was in fact a Galaxy Note 7. The owner also said the phone was one of the replacement devices that wasn't supposed to have the battery flaw that caused Samsung to recall the Note 7.
If that's the case, that means even replacement Note 7s could be at risk.
"There is no evidence that this incident is related to the new Note 7. We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause," a Samsung spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the local news report, the dropped Samsung device filled the airline with smoke, and caused damage to the plane's carpet.
No injuries were reported on the 75-person flight.
We've reached out to Southwest for comment.
SEE ALSO: Samsung is halting sales of its Note 7 smartphone following reports of battery explosions
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