A smoking Samsung phone just caused Southwest to evacuate a plane

For the past few weeks, airlines have been warning passengers at the beginning of flights to power down their Samsung devices after the Korean phone maker was forced to recall some of its smartphones over exploding batteries.

Now we know why the airlines were taking the warning so seriously.

A Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville International Airport to Baltimore was forced to evacuate because a Samsung device overheated and began to smoke, CBS WLKY reports.

The report did not specify whether the smoking Samung device was a Note 7 phone.

"There is no evidence that this incident is related to the new Note7. We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause," A Samsung spokesperson said in a statement.

The Galaxy Note 7 is the only Samsung phone that has been recalled over malfunctioning batteries. Samsung has released a software update for the Note 7 that it says fixes the overheating problem.

According to the local news report, the dropped Samsung device filled the airline with smoke, and caused damage to the plane's carpet.

No injuries were reported on the 75-person flight.