Passenger's Laptop Catches Fire Forcing JetBlue Flight To Land

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) --  A JetBlue flight  had to make an emergency landing late last night after a passenger's laptop caught fire.

Wednesday morning, the flight from New York landed safely in San Francisco – its initial destination. Hours before, the place had to make an emergency stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

About 158 people were on board at the time of the fire.

Sometime after JetBlue flight 915 left New York, passengers said they started noticing something was wrong.

Passenger Kailey Honniball said passengers noticed smoke coming from row 25.

Turns out the lithium battery from a laptop inside a backpack in the overhead bin had caught fire. The flight crew put out the fire and decided to do an emergency landing.

"I was stunned.  I knew something was going to happen because you know, lithium batteries catching on fire when you're up at 38,000 feet, you can't help but think you gotta do something, so I was prepared for it," said Honniball.

The jet landed around 8 p.m. It was on the tarmac for nearly three hours as emergency crews removed the charred battery and did inspections. Passengers were loaded back on board and taken to San Francisco.