Dhaka, Jun 7 (IANS): At least 14 people were killed and 12 others injured following a head-on collision between a truck and a pickup van in Bangladesh's Sylhet district on Wednesday, a senior police official said.

Md Abul Hossain, inspector at Sylhet's Dakshin Surma Police Station, told Xinhua news agency that all of the deceased were construction workers.

Some workers were also critically injured in the road accident that occurred at around 6 a.m. in the district, some 240 km northeast of capital Dhaka, said the official.

All the injured were rushed to local hospitals and clinics, he said, adding that the cause of the accident is under investigation.

Bangladesh 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 drivers, and lack of monitoring of the traffic department.

As many as 328 people were killed and 565 others injured in 304 road accidents from April 15 to 29, during the Eid al-Fitr festival rush in Bangladesh.