8 killed, 40 injured in road accident in Bangladesh

A head-on collision between two passenger buses in Bangladesh's Gopalganj district, some 127 km southwest of capital Dhaka, Tuesday afternoon, left at least eight people dead and 40 injured, some critically, local police said.

The accident occurred most likely when the driver of the bus tried to overtake, Gopalganj Police Chief Mizanur Rahman told Xinhua over phone, adding all the injured in the crash were rushed to local hospitals and clinics.

Another local police official said the death toll may rise as several passengers rushed to hospital were in "critical condition. "

The South Asian nation has one of the highest fatality rates for road accidents in the world mainly due to shoddy highways, poorly maintained vehicles, violation of traffic rules by inept drivers and lack of monitoring of the traffic department.