Bizarre Fight Leads to Southwest Airlines Emergency Landing

A new twist to the whole idea of the naughty passenger.

A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Wednesday after a woman allegedly hit her male traveling companion in the head with her cellphone – and the cellphone apparently exploded.

“She was beating him with the phone and the phone exploded and caught on fire,” passenger Katie Engleson, of Parkland, told a Florida TV station. “Everyone kind of went crazy and then all of a sudden we see smoke and I heard the words ‘fire’ and then next to us there was the object literally smoking. It was definitely very, very frightening.”

Several passengers quickly dumped water on the cellphone, she said.

Flight 4699 from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale was then diverted to Pensacola, Fla., where it made an emergency landing. A man with a toddler and a woman were escorted off the plane. A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said the passengers, who were traveling together, got off the plane in Pensacola.

“A Southwest flight operating from Dallas Love Field safely diverted to Pensacola International Airport on Wednesday afternoon due to a dispute between two passengers traveling together that resulted in a broken cell phone, which smoldered and was placed into a battery containment bag by our Flight Attendants,” the airline said in a statement. “After the two passengers exited the aircraft in Pensacola, the flight continued to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. We appreciate the patience, cooperation, and support of the customers onboard today.”