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https://splash247.com/how-one-handheld-radio-ripped-a-ships-bridge-apart

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US has issued its report into the blaze on the bridge (pictured) of the crude tanker S-Trust 12 months ago. Investigators determined that the probable cause of the fire was the thermal runaway of one of the cells in a lithium-ion battery for a UHF handheld radio.

The S-Trust carried 20 ultra-high frequency (UHF) handheld radios for the crew to use to communicate during vessel operations. The two radios assigned to the bridge were a Motorola DP4400e radio (pictured), which used a lithium-ion battery, and a Motorola GP328 radio, which used a nickel-metal hydride battery.

Investigators found the remains of three batteries – one nickel-metal hydride and two lithium-ion – on the communications table. The single nickel-metal hydride battery was intact; one of the lithium-ion batteries was found intact in the remains of the chargers. Investigators only found components of the second lithium-ion battery.

Lithium-ion battery cell explosions are typically caused by a thermal runaway. An initial orange flash and puff of smoke caught on video feed at the time of the accident (see below) was likely the result of one of the missing lithium-ion cells exploding due to a thermal runaway.