The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the agency responsible for air safety standards in India, banned Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phones on airplanes on Wednesday over increasing number of incidents of the phone catching fire.
The decision comes following a similar ban imposed by US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week.
Many Indian airlines such as Vistara and Jet Airways have already banned Note 7 on their flights. Japan also banned the phone on airplanes.
Samsung on September 2 announced a global recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets, including the United States due to faulty batteries causing some of the phones to catch fire.
The South Korean company discontinued the product earlier this week, less than two months after its August release.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there have been nearly 100 reports of batteries in Note 7 phones overheating in the US. One fire erupted on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this month. In another case, a family in St. Petersburg, Florida, reported a Galaxy Note 7 phone left charging in their Jeep caught fire, destroying the vehicle.
The Federal Aviation Administration had previously warned passengers not to pack the phones in their checked bags and to power them off and not charge them while on board planes.
{{/usCountry}}The Federal Aviation Administration had previously warned passengers not to pack the phones in their checked bags and to power them off and not charge them while on board planes.
{{/usCountry}}Read | Samsung’s smartphone brand takes beating from Galaxy Note 7 fiasco