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World News Tonight detailed a scary flight situation

Though David Muir took a night off from World News Tonight Thursday, that doesn’t mean the news did, with his replacement, Whit Johnson, quickly informing viewers about a dramatic story that took place onboard a transatlantic flight.

The ABC show quickly got things rolling with Johnson at the helm, informing viewers about other stories like sweeping tariffs affecting consumers in the United States, before turning his attention to the other story.

Viewers were left intrigued as Johnson shared details. It comes after Muir issued a bombshell 4-word update to viewers as he stepped away from his desk on air.

Johnson, 43, let his viewers know about the dramatic scene that unfolded on the plane, admitting that video had surfaced, which showed exactly what happened.

“Now, to the midair scare on a transatlantic flight,” Johnson said. “A passenger’s mobile charger sparking a fire, the crew racing to put it out, and the dramatic new video coming in tonight.”

He then handed off the story to correspondent Mola Lenghi, who gave viewers all of the details.

Tonight, panic and chaos over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, after a fire erupted on a KLM flight from Sao Paolo to Amsterdam,” he said. “Brazilian officials say it was sparked by a passenger’s mobile charger.”

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Whit Johnson interrupted the broadcast to detail the moment a fire broke out on board the flight

“You can hear frantic passengers as crew members rush to try to extinguish the fire, as smoke filled the cabin. Some on board covering their faces with pillows and towels to protect themselves,” he continued.

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He then revealed the crew managed to put out the fire, allowing the flight to land in Amsterdam as planned.

Lenghi then appeared on screen to share a reminder to viewers about their own precautions they should take when flying.

“And Whit, if you’ve ever wondered why airlines ask passengers to remove and to keep their lithium batteries with them in the cabin, and not in their checked luggage, well, this is why,” he said.

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Dramatic video showed a cabin filled with smoke as crew members tried to put out the flames

The story aboard the KLM flight is the latest involving drama in the skies, with several stories about scary situations breaking out on airplanes throughout 2025.

Stories of flights being forced to turn around or make emergency landings due to issues like collisions with birds or engine failure have dominated news in recent months, as have several others involving near misses on collisions at airport runways from flights that tried to take off or land in the wrong spots.

60 different incidents took nearly 200 lives in the first five months of the year, according to data from Fox 4 News.

This included the tragic crash outside of Washington DC in January that killed 67, a second crash in Pennsylvania just days later that killed seven, and a third in Alaska in February that killed 10.

It comes after we reported on David Muir’s surprising net worth as one of ABC’s top-paid anchors.