Road accident kills 8 in Bangladesh

Eight people were killed as a truck hit a three-wheeler passenger vehicle in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district, 122 km north of Dhaka, on Thursday afternoon.

"The road accident left eight people on the three-wheeler dead on the spot," said Mohammad Ali Sheikh, officer-in-charge of Mymensingh's Kotwali Police Station told journalists.

The accident occurred at about 12:00 a.m. (local time) Thursday, the officials said, adding that they are investigating the cause of the accident.

Bangladesh has high fatality rates for road accidents due mainly to shoddy highways, poorly maintained vehicles and violation of traffic rules by drivers.

According to police and various data, the number of daily fatality varies from 15 to 50, about 75 percent of which occur in rural areas.

Source: XINHUA