Highway Bus Fire in Henan

Flames swept through the bus after an explosion, said Zhou Jianzhou, driver of the long-distance bus traveling from Shandong to Hunan Province. Yet not much else is known about the cause of the fire which killed 41 people on July 22, despite a preliminary investigation by three government agencies.

Lying in bed with second-degree burns to the face, both arms and the back, the 47-year-old driver of Henan's fatal bus fire said the bus caught fire along a strip of highway in Henan Province, at around 4 a.m. An investigation was launched by the State Administration of Work Safety, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Transport.

(The charred and hollowed-out remains of the Yutong doubledecker sleeper-style bus that caught fire along a strip of highway in Henan on July 22/Xinhua)

The joint work team released a preliminary investigative report, stating that the fire started with flammable chemicals which were smuggled onto the bus somewhere along the 10-city bus route. China's Road Traffic Safety Laws state that the transport of flammable or explosive materials requires approval from the Public Security Bureau on an arranged schedule, on a route at legal speeds.