Kurnool, Oct 25 (IANS) The explosion of a consignment of 234 smartphones in the Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus that caught fire in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district, killing 19 passengers, may have aggravated the blaze, indicated the preliminary investigation by the Andhra Pradesh Police.

The consignment of smartphones worth Rs 46 lakh belonged to a Hyderabad-based businessman and was to be delivered to a company in Bengaluru.

Survivors told police that when flames engulfed the bus, they heard a series of explosions.

The consignment of smartphones of a particular brand was kept in the luggage cabin under the seats. As the fire started under the belly of the bus, where a bike was stuck, the flames spread to the luggage cabin.

The lithium batteries of the handsets exploded, which, forensic experts believe, further intensified the inferno.

According to P. Venkataraman, Director-General of the Andhra Pradesh Fire Services Department, the electrical batteries used for the air conditioning system of the bus also exploded, further aggravating the blaze.

He said the heat was so severe that it melted the aluminium sheets on the bus floor. The official said he saw bones and ash dropping from the melted sheets.

Sixteen teams of the Police and Forensic Departments are investigating the fire tragedy from all angles.

Ten teams comprising forensic experts are conducting DNA tests on the charred remains of the passengers.

State Home Minister V. Anitha said four teams have also been formed to probe the nature of the explosions. Two teams are engaged in chemical analysis.

Preliminary investigations also suggest that the fire started under the front section of the bus after it hit a bike, which got stuck under it.

The petrol leakage from the bike, combined with the heat or a spark, may have ignited the fire, which quickly engulfed the entire bus.

The bus driver told police that the bus had hit the bike, which was lying on the road. The driver believes that the bike rider had already met with an accident, and the bus ran over the bike lying on the road.

The bus belonging to V Kaveri Travels had started from Hyderabad on Thursday night. It met with a ghastly accident near Chinnatekur village on the outskirts of Kurnool between 3 a.m. – 3.15 a.m. on Friday.

While 19 passengers, including two children, were charred to death, 27 passengers managed to come out.

Six of the deceased are from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two each from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and one each from Odisha and Bihar. Another deceased is yet to be identified.

–IANS

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