The passenger will face legal action once he returns from Thailand to Israel.
We all know how smoking on a flight is banned globally as it can have dangerous consequences. However, in a total disregard for rules and safety norms, an impatient passenger who couldn't wait for his flight to land, tried to have a quick smoke inside the washroom, and ended up setting the plane's toilet on fire, according to a report by The Times of Israel.
The incident happened on Friday when the unnamed Israeli passenger was on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Bangkok. As he started smoking, the smoke alarm installed in the plane's toilet went off. Hearing the alarm sound, the passenger threw his still-smouldering cigarette butt into a trash can, which immediately set fire to the tissue and rubbish inside.
Jumping into action, flight attendants immediately used extinguishers to douse the fire, El Al representatives told The Times of Israel. Luckily there was no damage.
"The flight continued as scheduled and landed safely at Bangkok Airport. The passenger was warned and the issue was passed on for further examination in our legal department," El Al representatives told the outlet. The passenger will be facing legal action once he returns from Thailand to Israel, according to the newspaper.
Interestingly, until the 1980s, smoking was allowed on an airplane. However, now, almost all international airlines and most governments prohibit in-flight smoking. In an unfortunate incident in 1973, 123 passengers died on Varig Flight 820 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, after a cigarette was thrown into the lavatory's trash can, which caught fire, according to The New York Times.