A bus fire that killed at least 20 people in southern India was intensified by hundreds of smartphones being onboard, local reports say, citing forensics officials.

Flames rapidly engulfed the Bangalore-bound bus after it collided with a motorcycle that ruptured its fuel tank and triggered an explosion early on Friday.

Eyewitnesses said the approximately 40 passengers had struggled to escape as locals rushed to pull out survivors.

Forensic experts have now told local media that the bus had been carrying a shipment of 234 mobile phones, and that the lithium-ion batteries they contained likely exacerbated the fire once they ruptured.

“The bus batteries, presence of flammable furnishings in the bus and the cargo consisting of cell phones aggravated the fire leading to the tragic event,” CNN News18 quotes Kurnool Superintendent of Police Vikrant Patel as saying.

Meanwhile, P Venkataraman, the director-general of the Andhra Pradesh Fire Services Department, said electrical batteries used for the air conditioning system of the bus also exploded and made the fire worse.

“We saw bones and ash dropping through the melted sheets,” he told local media.

The smartphones were worth 4.6m Indian rupees (£39,361; $52,377) and were being sent from Hyderabad to an e-commerce company in Bengaluru, broadcaster NDTV reports.

Most smartphones have lithium-ion batteries, which can pose a fire risk when damaged.

This is because they can experience thermal runaway – uncontrollable temperature increases – which is hard to stop with conventional firefighting means. It can also spread to other batteries in close proximity.

Authorities have opened an investigation into possible negligent driving over the crash. The bus driver fled the scene. The motorcyclist is said to be among the dead.

Buses are a common mode of transport in India, but operators frequently ignore safety rules and overcrowd vehicles, while the nation had the highest road accident death tolls in the world last year.

Who: Real Madrid vs Barcelona
What: El Clasico in Spain’s La Liga
Where: Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain
When: Sunday at 4:15pm (14:15 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 1:15pm (11:15 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Last season, Barcelona romped to four Clasico victories over Real Madrid, but led by in-form striker Kylian Mbappe, Los Blancos are aiming to redress the balance on Sunday in La Liga.

Hansi Flick’s side won a domestic treble, beating Madrid twice in La Liga and in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup finals, precipitating the end of Carlo Ancelotti’s reign.

The Italian’s replacement, Xabi Alonso, has started well, and Madrid lead Barcelona by two points at the top of the table going into the clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the first Clasico of the season.

What is Real Madrid’s form ahead of El Clasico?

Madrid have some doubts around them regarding their performance in big matches, having lost against Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup semifinals this summer and then suffering a 5-2 thrashing by Atletico Madrid in a derby in September.

A victory in El Clasico would open up a five-point gap on their rivals and ease those concerns while Flick’s Barca are yet to reach the same level they managed last season.

What is Mbappe’s form like for Real Madrid?

Despite the doubts about Madrid’s credentials, Mbappe has hit new heights in the current campaign after finishing the previous campaign strongly.

Mbappe had scored in all 11 of his previous matches for club and country before Wednesday’s Champions League win against Juventus, in which Jude Bellingham netted the only goal.

The 26-year-old has scored 10 of Madrid’s 20 La Liga goals, leading Spain’s scoring charts, and has 15 for his club across all competitions, totalling 54 percent of their goals.

“We’re not dependent on him,” Alonso said last week, although the statistics suggest otherwise.

“We are very happy with his performance. He’s being decisive.”

Why was last season so difficult for Mbappe at Real Madrid?

Mbappe struggled for confidence and form in his early days at Madrid with his first Clasico a huge disappointment.

Exactly a year before this weekend’s Clasico, Barcelona visited the Bernabeu and came away with a 4-0 victory, a match notable for the French superstar’s struggle to beat the Catalans’ high defensive line in his first outing against them for Madrid.

Mbappe had one goal disallowed for offside and was caught offside eight times in total. The forward was “shrunken and without venom”, the Spanish newspaper AS wrote.

“It’s time to change my situation and show who I am as a player,” Mbappe pledged a few weeks later as Madrid continued to slump.

By the time Mbappe next faced Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final in January, he had clicked into a higher gear.

Madrid were dismantled 5-2, but Mbappe found the net, as he did in their far tighter 3-2 Copa del Rey final defeat.

In May Mbappe, now in full flow, hit a hat-trick against Barcelona, but Los Blancos still fell 4-3 at the Olympic stadium as Flick’s side virtually wrapped up the league title.

This time last year… pic.twitter.com/QCXkedaq5K

— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) October 24, 2025

What else is making Real Madrid tick before Barcelona clash?

This season, Turkish playmaker Arda Guler has started to form a strong connection with Mbappe, having a knack for spotting the forward’s bursts behind the defence.

“Arda gets between the lines, and there he finds Mbappe well,” Alonso explained.

With Barcelona struggling badly in defence at the start of the current campaign, Madrid are confident Mbappe will be able to get in behind to devastating effect on Sunday.

Why has Barcelona’s Yamal been in the headlines with Real Madrid?

Teenage winger Lamine Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking during an appearance on a social media stream that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain”.

Barcelona’s assistant coach said on Saturday, however, that the furore created could go the way of the youngster.

“Lamine is a top player, and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Marcus Sorg, Flick’s assistant, said at a news conference.

“I hope we all see him [give] the best performance.”

The 18-year-old Spain international will be up against Madrid left back Alvaro Carreras, whom he struggled against at times last season for Benfica on three occasions they faced Barcelona in the Champions League.

“Lamine is always motivated, and if I remember right, we won all three games against Benfica,” Sorg noted.

Why did Flick not speak before El Clasico?

Flick is suspended for the game after a red card last weekend during the win over Girona, and Sorg is taking over duties on the touchline.

“Honestly, Hansi is missing always if he is not there because he’s the most important part of the team,” Sorg said.

“It’s a disadvantage of course, [but] it’s the same as [missing] players. We have to deal with it. Everyone knows what he expects, and I think we will do it.”

Will Barcelona’s Raphinha be back for El Clasico?

Barcelona will be without winger Raphinha, who has suffered a setback in his return from a hamstring injury.

“Raphinha – every team would miss him, but it is how it is. We have enough players and have to deal with it,” Sorg said.

Head-to-head

This is the 262nd Clasico with Real claiming 105 wins and Barcelona taking the spoils on 104 occasions.

Real Madrid team news

Real Madrid hope to welcome back Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, Dani Ceballos and Dean Huijsen. Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba are out due to muscle and groin injuries.

Barcelona team news

Frenkie de Jong has returned from illness, but Jules Kounde is a doubt due to a slight knock.

Raphinha’s hamstring injury is keeping him sidelined while Joan Garcia, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gavi, Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo are all confirmed absentees.

Real Madrid predicted starting lineup

Courtois; Valverde, Militao, Asencio, Carreras; Guler, Tchouameni, Bellingham; Mastantuono, Mbappe, Vinicius

Barcelona predicted starting lineup

Szczesny; E Garcia, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Pedri, de Jong; Yamal, Fermin, Rashford; Ferran

A 69-year-old Japanese tourist has died after falling off the perimeter wall of the Pantheon in Rome, local media reports.

Morimasa Hibino is said to have fallen from a height of about seven metres (22.9 ft) at around 21:50 local time (19:50 GMT). A priest who was passing by alerted the police when he saw the man lying in the ditch, according to local newspaper la Repubblica.

Emergency services and firefighters reportedly had to force open a gate outside the ancient Roman temple, before finding the man dead in a ditch.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the death.

The man was sitting on the edge of the wall, lost his balance and fell, la Repubblica reported, citing police.

Investigators have obtained surveillance images and videos overlooking the spot where the man was sitting, local media reports.

The Pantheon is one of Italy’s most visited attractions, with millions of tourists estimated to see it every year.

Donald Trump has departed for Malaysia, where he’s set to attend the ASEAN summit and hold trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Speaking before he left, the US President criticised Canada over its ‘crooked ad’ about tariffs, and said he’d be open to meeting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.