A shocking twist has come to light in the Kurnool bus fire tragedy in Andhra Pradesh bus fire tragedy involving 20 dead passengers, which occurred Friday morning (24th October). Police investigators have now discovered that a huge shipment of smartphones within the bus could have amplified the fire.
As per forensic officials, nearly 234 mobile phones worth almost Rs 46 lakh were kept in the bus’s luggage compartment when the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The mobiles were being carried by a Hyderabad businessman called Manganath and were being taken to Bengaluru, from where they would be delivered to an e-retailing company
Officials believe the intense heat and the explosions from the phones’ batteries added fuel to the already spreading flames. Eyewitnesses near the accident site said they heard small explosions, which they later realised were coming from the smartphone batteries catching fire one after another.
Andhra Pradesh Fire Services Director-General P. Venkataraman said that in addition to the phone batteries, the electrical batteries used for the bus’s air-conditioning system also exploded during the blaze. “The fire was so intense that the aluminium sheets on the floor of the bus melted,” he said.
According to Venkataraman, the initial spark likely came from the front portion of the bus after a fuel leak. “A bike got stuck under the bus, and petrol from it leaked. The heat or a spark ignited the fuel, and the fire spread quickly throughout the vehicle,” he said.
When firefighters reached the spot, they found the entire bus burnt beyond recognition. “We saw bones and ash dropping through the melted sheets,” Venkataraman said, describing the horrific scene.
He also pointed out a serious flaw in the bus’s design and materials. The bus was built with lightweight aluminium instead of iron to make it faster and more fuel-efficient. But this choice made it less resistant to high heat, allowing the fire to spread much faster than it would have in a sturdier structure.
The tragic incident happened near Chinnatekuru village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, when a Volvo bus travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru collided with a motorcycle. The bus, carrying about 40 passengers, went up in flames within minutes, killing at least 20 people on board. Police and forensic teams are still investigating to determine the exact cause of the fire and the sequence of explosions.
