Cellphone explosion kills 3

The house where the cellphone burst

TT, Chandigarh, Dec. 4: Three members of a family died and two suffered serious injuries after a cellphone exploded late last night when the battery was being charged, leaving the single-room tenement in flames.

Kuljit Singh, 50, his wife Surinder Kaur and one of the couple's three daughters, Reena, 16, succumbed to their injuries at a government hospital in Chandigarh where they had been brought with nearly 100 per cent burns.

Two other daughters - Harpreet Kaur, 19, and Paramjeet Kaur, 18 - are in a critical condition.

Police sources said the family's neighbours in Dayalpura, a village near Mohali, about 20km from Chandigarh, saw the room in flames after being jolted awake by screams around midnight. "The phone was being charged when it exploded. A can of kerosene kept in the room caught fire.... The flames soon spread in the room," said a police officer.

The sources said the family's neighbours tried to arrange for ambulances but could not. The victims were then taken to the hospital around 3am in private vehicles.

"All the three who succumbed at the hospital had almost 100 per cent burn injuries and their chances of survival were bleak," a police officer said.