DHAKA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- A head-on collision between a bus and a microbus killed 14 people in Bangladesh's Bagerhat district, some 178 km southwest of the capital city of Dhaka, on Thursday, a senior official said.

Golam Md Baten, Bagerhat's deputy commissioner and district magistrate, told Xinhua that the deadly crash happened at around 4:30 p.m. local time in the district.

The accident killed 14 of the 15 people in the microbus, he added.

"Two people died on the spot, and twelve more were pronounced dead after being rushed to local hospitals," said the official.

He said all the victims were relatives who were returning from a wedding.

Bangladesh has a high fatality rate for road accidents due to shoddy highways, poorly maintained vehicles, violation of traffic rules by inept drivers, and a lack of monitoring by the traffic department. ■