None of the 202 passengers or the crew suffered any injuries and the Airbus A330-200 aircraft landed safely at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) at the scheduled time.
 

Shortly after the meal service on the 70-minute flight was concluded, alert cabin crew members in the aft area of the aircraft noticed smoke appearing from an overhead luggage bin. The cabin manager and the captain were immediately informed. The aft cabin crew members rapidly armed themselves with fire extinguishers and opened the bin. Upon finding a bag emitting smoke, they sprayed it with an extinguisher. The crew then removed the bag from the overhead bin and carried it quickly away from the passengers to the aft galley, at which time it began to emit smoke once again at a faster rate. Suspecting a lithium fire, they adopted the lithium fire extinguishing procedure by immersing the bag in a container of water. The situation was successfully contained and the bag ceased to emit smoke. Upon investigation, the crew found a lithium battery pack and two mobile phones in the bag.

The flight crew immediately informed air traffic controllers at BIA and the aircraft was met on arrival by dangerous goods experts, firefighters and other safety related personnel. Since the situation was under control, passengers did not require emergency evacuation and disembarked in the usual manner.

SriLankan Airlines has launched an investigation into the incident.