Assam hit by mysterious 'Bombile' terror

Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 21:42 IST
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Guwahati: Unexpected mobile phone explosions termed as 'Bombile' are creating panic among people in Assam, causing the user to become unconscious. According to sources, 30 cases of mobile phone explosion have been uncovered till now and 20 people have been admitted in hospital. An estimated 30 cases have been reported so far with more than 20 people admitted to various hospitals in Assam during the past one week. Most of the victims complained of nausea and a splitting headache, and some of them had to be literally wheeled into the hospital unconscious after the mobile handsets exploded soon after receiving a call. Apparently, there have been multiple reports of people whose phones explode after receiving calls from some strange numbers. These numbers appear in red (what if I have an old 3310, with a monochromatic screen. Huh?) and the moment the unfortunate victim answers the call, their phones explode! Post the explosions, people fall unconscious and are admitted to hospitals. State officials and mobile service providers are perplexed as there is no scientific reason this could happen (unless of course all these batteries decided to explode suddenly) and have no explanation to these bizarre cases. Another thing that has been noticed is that these so called explosions have taken place on handsets from reputed manufacturers and not on untested and unsafe Chinese handsets. "This is a mysterious phenomenon and so I have asked for a thorough probe by experts to find out the cause as to why mobile handsets are bursting in such a large number," said Gogoi At least 10 such cases were brought to the notice of the police - although no cases were registered as the officials were perplexed, not knowing what to do. According to witnesses and victims, the explosions took place soon after receiving calls from numbers that appeared in red on the handset screens. Mobile service providers are confused and have no scientific explanation to these bizarre cases. "We have got numerous queries from users asking us to explain the reason, but we are not sure. We have asked for expert help from our head office to have an internal probe into the matter," said an official of Reliance Telecom requesting not to be named. "The interesting thing is that some of the handsets that have burst are from genuine brands like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola. Initially, it was presumed the cases were witnessed in cheap Chinese make handsets, but now even that theory was proved wrong," a police official said. But the incidents are triggering panic among mobile users in Assam with 'bombile' being the word that is in vogue now.
Source: IANS