Undeclared Lithium batteries could have affected crashed UPS freighter

Lithium batteries onboard a UPS plane that crashed in Dubai last year should have been declared hazardous cargo, according to a preliminary report released by the UAE's civil aviation authority.

The report released yesterday states that while there were no declared shipments of hazardous materials onboard the flight, the package details for the cargo onboard the Boeing 747 identified many of the shipments as 'lithium batteries and electronic equipment containing or packed with lithium batteries’, while at least three of the shipments contained ‘lithium ion battery packs’ that should have been handled as hazardous cargo.

The UPS plane was on its way from Hong Kong to Cologne when it crashed near Dubai International airport on September 3 last year, killing the two pilots on board who struggled to land the plane amid thick smoke and low emergency oxygen.

Although the report does not identify the cause of the fire, it is expected to raise more questions about the shipment of lithium batteries, which can overheat and cause cargo fires.