Vijayawada: Man dies as bike battery explodes

Vijayawada: One person died and three others, including his wife and children, sustained burn injuries when the battery of his new electric two-wheeler exploded causing fire in his bedroom at Gulabi Thota here in the early hours of Saturday.

Condition of his wife is said to be serious. Their two children also suffered from asphyxiation but were stable, the police said.

The incident comes in the wake of similar incident in Nizamabad town in Telangana where an electric vehicle battery exploded killing an 80-year-old man three days ago.

The victim K Siva Kumar, a DTP worker, purchased the electric bike only on Friday. The detachable battery of the vehicle was kept on charging in his bedroom on Friday night and it suddenly exploded in the early hours when all were fast asleep, Suryaraopet police said.

The explosion caused a minor fire in the house gutting the air-conditioner and some household articles.

Neighbours who saw smoke billowing out of the house broke the doors open and pulled out the family trapped inside.

Sivakumar died while being shifted to hospital in an ambulance.

His wife was admitted to a private hospital for treatment, where she was kept under 48-hour observation, police added.

This is the first such incident in Vijayawada and the second incident in the Telugu states in less than a week.

CPM state leader Chigurupati Babu Rao and other party leaders visited the residence of Siva Kumar in Gulabi Thota and spoke to the neighbours. He demanded that the government conducted a detailed probe into the electric two-wheelers and take measures to prevent such mishaps.