Update | Bus inferno kills 43 in Hunan after being hit by van carrying dangerous cargo

At least 43 people were killed when a van carrying flammable liquid rammed into the back of a coach and exploded on a busy expressway in Hunan province early yesterday.

Two children were among the dead on the bus and at least six people were injured and sent to local hospitals.

The coach operator had apparently violated traffic rules that ban such vehicles from highways late at night.

The accident happened at about 3am on a major expressway near Shaoyang . The van rammed the double-decker coach carrying 53 passengers and two drivers, setting off explosions and a fire that destroyed three other vehicles. The blaze took five hours to extinguish.

The coach was travelling to Guizhou along the Hukun Expressway that connects Shanghai with Kunming , capital of Yunnan . About half the passengers boarded the bus in Xiamen , Fujian .

The van's driver and a passenger died at the scene, Xinhua said.