Lenovo, the world's third largest PC maker, has confirmed one of its laptop computers fitted with a Sony battery caught fire in Los Angeles International Airport earlier this month.

The incident follows the recall of nearly 6 million faulty laptop batteries made by Sony and used in machines manufactured by Dell and Apple after several computers overheated and caught fire.

A Lenovo spokeswoman told Times Online: "The battery that overheated was the same as used in Dell and Apple machines. We are investigating and, of course, one potential option is a recall, but we cannot confirm that yet."

She added: "We are in touch with Sony and the American authorities and our priority is public safety."

Lenovo said that it had dispatched a team to recover the laptop after bloggers reported that the Lenovo ThinkPad T43 model began sparking in LA. No one was injured in the incident and it is not yet clear what caused the malfunction, it added.

Lenovo was unable to confirm how many Sony batteries it has used or how many machines could potentially be affected.

But any further recall involving faulty batteries could hit Sony hard. The Japanese group has already estimated that the two recalls by Dell and Apple would cost it up to 30 billion yen (£140m).

The latest recall also places in question once more the lithium-ion technology used in modern PC batteries and the techniques used to manufacture them. Sony said the Dell and Apple recalls came after impurities entered batteries, making short circuits possible.

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