Vivo Y20 consignment catches fire at airport; all Vivo phones banned from shipping

Published On: April 12, 2021

Highlights

A pallet carrying Vivo Y20 smartphones combusted spontaneously while being transported to an aircraft
The fire took nearly forty minutes to put out and destroyed an unspecified number of smartphones
Hong Kong has halted all the exports of Vivo smartphones until further notice

Worldwide Vivo phone imports could be impacted as an entire lot of Vivo Y20 smartphones spontaneously combusted on an airport tarmac in Hong Kong. Authorities are yet to determine the source of the fire, but it probably has something to do with the battery given that is the most combustible part of a smartphone. It is unclear as to how many smartphones were destroyed, but considering that there was an entire box full of them, we’re probably looking at hundreds, if not thousands. Furthermore, the firefighting efforts may have irreparably damaged many devices that escaped the blaze. As a punitive measure for the fire, Hong Kong authorities is not allowing Vivo to the export any smartphone until the source of the fire is determined.

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Twitter users have shared alleged footage of the blaze online.

Vivo Mobile Pallet Catches Fire While Loading in Cargo Plane at HKG pic.twitter.com/sW7NXIoPd5
— Solo Shokeen (@SoloShokeen) April 11, 2021

This is what the pallet was supposedly carrying, VIVO smartphones. Most probably a lithium battery issue similar to that Samsung Note problem from sometime ago.
Lithium batteries are a “Dangerous good” capable of igniting spontaneously under heat or physical damage. pic.twitter.com/ktxtwjde3w
— Andre Quiros (@flyingheavy747) April 11, 2021

In the above tweet, you can see the aftermath of the flames. Thankfully, nobody appears to have been injured in the fire, which started at around 5am local time. It reportedly took firefighters nearly 40 minutes to put out the inferno, which affected an area of 12 x 24 meters on the tarmac.

Will this affect Vivo Y20 supplies in India?

Short answer: no. This move only affects Vivo smartphones exported out of Hong Kong. Vivo India, on the other hand, manufactures locally the phones it sells in the country. Nonetheless, Vivo Y20 users should exercise caution, at least until the company announces an official cause of the fire, while charging their devices. In all likelihood, the bad batteries could be a part of one specific batch of smartphones, so there is no reason to panic just yet. One can only hope that Vivo’s investigations ends sooner rather than later as this incident could irreparably tarnish its reputation.