ZHENGZHOU - Two people were sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for a bus fire that killed 42 in Central China's Henan province in July 2011, said local authorities.

Yang Lilun and Yang Liliang, the driver and boss of a chemical company in East China's Shandong province, were convicted of the crime of endangering the public security with dangerous method, said Xinyang Intermediate People's Court.

The 35-seater bus was carrying 47 people from the city of Weihai to Changsha when it exploded and caught fire and on an expressway near Xinyang in the early morning of July 22.

Investigators found that the blaze and blast was caused by chemicals being carried illegally carried on the overloaded bus.

Zou Jianzhou, the bus driver, and several managers of the bus company were sentenced to jail terms of two to six years.