Terrifying moment power bank explodes inside passenger's bag at Thai airport

A woman sparked panic at an airport after her power bank exploded inside her rucksack.

The young tourist arrived at the Chiang Mai International Airport in northern Thailand last Sunday (July 21).

But while she was walking into the check-in area, a ball of flames emerged from her black backpack. 

The terrified woman hurled it to the ground while dashing away. Then while a security guard was taking a picture of the burned-out device, it suddenly heated up again and started spinning like a catherine wheel firework. 

Airport officials said the holidaymaker from Africa, was not injured after the explosion but her clothes were burned.

The Airports Authority of Thailand released CCTV of the incident to warn airplane passengers about the dangers of travelling with power banks. 

In a press conference today (July 26), they warned that power banks carried on board aircraft must adhere to the International Air Transport Association's safety standards.

They said that batteries or power banks with a capacity of more than 32,000 milliamp-hours (mAh) are banned, while no more than two packs of batteries with capacities of 20,000 to 32,000mAh can be taken aboard. 

There are no limits to 20,000mAh capacity power banks.

An airport spokesman said: "The remains of the device showed that the short circuit led to the fire then explosion.

"Passengers are not allowed to use power bank devices more than 32,000 mAh on board because an explosion like this could be very dangerous."