News / 'Do 300 people have to die before airlines screen for lithium batteries?'

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Regulators must address the risk of lithium batteries on aircraft before hundreds of people die, urged Guillaume Halleux, head of cargo at Qatar Airways.

In an impassioned speech at the World Cargo Symposium in Dublin yesterday, Mr Halleux pointed to three lithium battery-related incidents he had seen at the carrier.

They all featured fraudulent shipment declarations, and all saw no action taken against the shipper. He said the shipments were poorly packaged, with, in one case, the batteries separated by single pieces ...