A bus fire on Friday in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool resulted in the death of 20 individuals. It has now come to light that the bus was carrying 234 smartphones, the batteries of which burst during the fire, thus intensifying the blaze.

One of the most shocking road accidents in India in recent memory occurred on Friday, when 20 people died after a bus travelling from Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool to Bengaluru struck a bike and went up in flames.

While investigations into the incident are underway, a report has surfaced that the bus was carrying a consignment of 234 smartphones to Bengaluru, and forensic experts are now suggesting that this could have resulted in a more intense fire than what would have happened otherwise.

As per a report by NDTV, the consignment of smartphones was worth around ₹46 lakh, and was being shipped to Bengaluru by a businessman based out of Hyderabad who has been identified as Manganath. The parcel was for the e-commerce platform Flipkart, the report revealed.

Experts believe the exploding batteries of the smartphones worsened the blaze.

The publication also spoke to the director-general of the Andhra Pradesh Fire Services Department, who revealed that besides the smartphones, the batteries of the air conditioning system of the bus also burst, thus worsening the situation.

The bus struck a bike which was lying on the road, leading to a massive fire. The bike rider was also charred to death.

"According to information given by one of the bus drivers, the bike was lying on the road. It may have been due to a separate accident or a self-fall" Kurnool SP Vikrant Patel told PTI when asked about the cause of the accident.

Most of the passengers were fast asleep when the bus caught fire, which was around 3 am.

A number of passengers could not escape because the bus door got jammed, allegedly due to a short circuit, and the fire engulfed the vehicle within minutes.

Some of those who were able to escape did so by breaking the windows of the bus.

"Once the fire started (and) the bus came to a halt, through the passenger door he (Lakshmaiah) jumped out. He did not understand the intensity," Patel told PTI.

Upon exiting the vehicle, Lakshmaiah woke up the additional driver who was sleeping in the luggage rack at the bottom of the bus.

When they realised they were not being able to get back into the bus, the duo used a rod to break the window panes, thus letting some of the passengers escape.

The driver is being held culpable for the incident.