Powerbank that caught fire on KLM flight belonged to airline’s ex-CEO Camiel Eurlings

The power bank that caught fire aboard a KLM plane on Thursday, forcing it to turn around after 5.5 hours in the sky, belonged to Camiel Eurlings, the former CEO of KLM, multiple passengers on board the flight confirmed to RTL Nieuws. The former KLM CEO was charging his power bank, against KLM’s rules, when it exploded. He sustained minor injuries, the broadcaster’s sources said.

KLM allows power banks on its planes, but passengers are not allowed to use or charge them on board the flight. The flight from Amsterdam to Curaçao turned around above the Atlantic Ocean and landed back at Schiphol at 8:40 p.m. on Thursday.

A passenger who was seated near Eurlings witnessed the event. “There was suddenly a loud bang,” said the passenger, who asked the broadcaster to remain anonymous. “Immediately after, there was a fire; large flames shot up from above the seat. The bang was the power bank exploding and instantly catching fire.”

She said that everyone had a massive fright, but the cabin crew reacted very quickly and reassured everyone. She spoke to Eurlings, and he was “terribly shaken,” the passenger told RTL Nieuws. “He feels awful about the situation and all the inconvenience caused to everyone. He was extremely upset.”

She added that it was “incredibly stupid” that KLM’s own former CEO was the one who made this mistake. “Especially when you ought to be intimately familiar with the rules, yet you break them anyway.”

Another passenger told RTL Nieuws that members of the cabin crew confirmed that the person involved was Eurlings when he asked them. “If you’re just an ordinary passenger, a slip-up like that can happen. But when you’re someone who used to enforce the company’s internal rules, this is really quite peculiar.”

KLM paid for all 322 passengers to spend the night at a hotel. They departed for Curaçao on a different plane on Friday morning.