A highway explosion in Hunan over the weekend has exposed flaws in this country's highway management.

Photo taken on July 19, 2014 shows burnt vehicles after an explosion and fire on a section of the Hukun (Shanghai to Kunming) Expressway in central China's Hunan Province.

A van loaded with alcohol rear-ended a passenger coach during the middle of the night, leaving 43 people dead.

Authorities are blaming the fatal accident on poor management and monitoring.

Wang Dexue is the deputy chief of the State Administration of Work Safety.

"The problems behind this accident are obvious. First, the transportation companies involved seriously violated the regulations. The van was illegally remodeled and camouflaged; the passenger coach drove on the highway between 2am and 5am when it's not supposed to. Second, the government failed to closely monitor and manage highway transportation."

Xu Shaohua is with the company that owns the passenger coach.

He admits the accident is ultimately their responsibility.

"According to government regulations, passenger coaches are not allowed on highways between 2 and 5am. Judging from the time of the explosion, it is our fault. But we haven't yet determined how great a role our bus played in the accident."

The crash and subsequent fire engulfed a total of five vehicles before being put out 5-hours later.

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