ZHENGZHOU - Ten people have been prosecuted over a bus fire that killed 41 and injured six others in central China's Henan province in July, local authorities said Tuesday.

The 35-seat bus was carrying 47 people from the eastern city of Weihai to the central city of Changsha, and caught fire on an expressway near Henan's city of Xinyang in the early morning of July 22.

Investigators dispatched by the central government later found that the blaze was triggered by dangerous chemicals illegally carried aboard the overloaded bus.

To date, 10 people have been prosecuted on allegations of illegally carrying and transporting dangerous articles and failing to implement their safety responsibilities, a spokesman with the procuratorate in Xinyang said.

The 10 people included those from a privately-owned transport company in Weihai, the owners of the bus and sales representatives of the company that produces the dangerous chemicals, the spokesman said.

No further details were provided.