A young girl has been killed by her smartphone after it exploded while she was talking on it.

18-year-old Uma Oram is said to have plugged the device in to charge and was speaking to a relative when the tragedy happened at her home in the village of Kheriakani in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

The teenager received injuries to her hand, chest and leg and was knocked unconscious before being taken to hospital where she was declared dead.

Uma OramHer brother said she had wanted to talk to an unnamed family member just after lunch but found that the phone, which had a Nokia logo, had run out of battery power.

Oram is understood to have plugged it in and was talking to the relative when the tragedy happened.

Her brother Durga Prasad Oram said: ‘As the battery of the mobile phone was draining out, she plugged it for charging while talking over it simultaneously.