At least 17 people were killed and another 30 were injured after a speeding bus skewed off the road and fell into a ditch in Bangladesh on Sunday.
The Dhaka-bound bus operated by Emad Paribahan veered out of control on an expressway in Madaripur around 7.30 am, the police said.
The death toll is expected to climb as many of the injured were in critical condition, the police said.
According to Madaripur Police Superintendent Md Masud Alam, the injured were admitted to different hospitals.
"The accident is believed to be due to reckless driving and mechanical failure of the bus," bdnews24, a news portal quoted Alam as saying.
Bus driver lost control
Shiplu Ahmed, Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Service, Faridpur, said, "It is believed that the wheel of the speeding bus burst and it lost control and fell into the ditch and hit hard."
Three units of fire service are deployed to carry out rescue work, said Lima Khanam, duty officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters who is carrying rescue efforts.
They said the dead and the injured were yet to be identified.
Bangladesh has a high rate of traffic accidents
The Emad Paribahan bus left for Dhaka with more than 43 people, according to Md Sabuj Khan, the counter man at the Shonadanga bus station, who spoke to The Daily Star newspaper.
Bangladesh has a high rate of traffic accidents because of the country's outdated, poorly maintained roadways, as well as its underqualified drivers.
