An explosion aboard a city bus on Tuesday injured more than 40 passengers, seven of them critically, in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province.

The blast occurred at about 1:40 PM on Bus Xiang A-04337 at the juncture of Jieyuan and Shaoshan roads. Most of the passengers were high school students.

All the injured were taken to Changsha Central Hospital. Rednet.com.cn, a provincial news website, said that by Wednesday morning no deaths had been reported.

There have not yet been any official statements from the police, hospital or local government.

Top provincial and city officials went to the scene shortly after the explosion to oversee operations.

Public order was reportedly maintained at the site and normal traffic soon restored.

The local public security office has assigned a special team to investigate the incident.

(China Daily October 27, 2004)