Tirupati: A large consignment of mobile phones in the luggage compartment of the Vemuri Kaveri Travels bus may have significantly intensified the inferno and accelerated the loss of lives, it has emerged.A consignment of 234 new smartphones was being transported in the bus going to Bengaluru from Hyderabad. Preliminary investigation revealed that a Hyderabad-based businessman, identified as Manganath, was transporting the consignment of mobile phones, worth approximately Rs 46 lakh, Kurnool police said.The fire, which was triggered when the speeding bus ran over a stationary bike and dragged it for a distance causing the bike’s fuel tank to explode, quickly spread to the luggage area. The extreme heat caused the lithium-ion batteries in the smartphones to undergo “thermal runaway” and explode, investigators said.Survivors reported hearing a series of loud explosions inside the bus, which forensic experts believe were the phone batteries detonating. The explosions and the combustible nature of the batteries greatly increased the fire’s intensity and speed, giving trapped passengers little time to escape.Investigators noted that many of the victims were found in the front seats and berths, located directly above the luggage compartment where the phone consignment was stored. Authorities are currently investigating the private bus operator for violating norms by carrying commercial cargo on a passenger bus. The presence of the volatile electronic consignment may have turned a tragic accident into a catastrophic firestorm, a senior police official said.
