Widebody; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
The flight was uneventful to my knowledge from a safety perspective. On June XX; 2020 I was informed by our safety department that a piece of cargo transported on our flight and subsequently to ZZZ1 on the same aircraft contained[er] an undeclared lithium battery. This cargo subsequently experienced a thermal runaway and caught fire. This report is being submitted at the request of the safety department; as had the cargo experienced a thermal runaway sooner it may have caused damage; injury or death to the aircraft and crew as the undisclosed item was transported. The failure to disclose the Hazardous Material could have resulted in other incompatible materials being placed without adequate segregation to this cargo and would have complicated efforts to identify and extinguish the item both in flight and on the ground. I have no other knowledge of the incident or the cargo and would refer further questions to the safety department. Cause: lithium ion battery fire in an undeclared battery shipment.
Heard about a lithium battery problem when the aircraft arrived into ZZZ1 The flight from ZZZZ to ZZZ that we operated was a nonevent.
Flight crew reported being notified two days after flight that they transported undeclared Hazmat cargo; lithium Ion; which experienced a thermal runaway at a downline station.