Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is under scrutiny after a female passenger’s mobile phone went missing inside the aircraft’s air ventilation system and remained there for 13 days, raising concerns about safety and negligence.
The incident occurred on July 6 during a PIA Boeing 777 flight from Jeddah to Islamabad. The passenger accidentally dropped her phone through an open air vent beneath her seat while in flight. She recorded a video showing the phone slipping into the plane’s internal ventilation system, which she later shared on social media.
Despite informing the crew and repeated follow-ups, PIA’s engineering team could not retrieve the device for nearly two weeks. The passenger tracked the phone’s location as it moved with the aircraft between Madinah and Islamabad, raising fears about the potential explosion risk from the phone’s lithium-ion battery.
The woman expressed serious safety concerns, stating, “This is an aircraft with over 300 people onboard. If the battery had overheated, it could have caused a disaster.”
The phone was finally recovered on July 19 after PIA engineers opened the aircraft floor. PIA spokesperson Abdullah Khan confirmed the phone’s retrieval, explaining that back-to-back flights delayed immediate access to the area. The airline maintained communication with the passenger during this period.
The passenger and her family have filed a complaint with the Federal Ombudsman, accusing PIA of negligence and endangering passenger safety.
While lithium-ion batteries have caused fires or explosions in rare cases, no major incidents involving phones have been reported on commercial flights. Aviation experts stress that such risks should be addressed with urgency to ensure passenger safety.
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