Dhaka, March 19 : At least 17 people were killed and more than 26 others injured when a passenger bus veered off the road and fell into a ditch in Bangladesh's central Madaripur district, nearly 63 km south of the capital Dhaka on Sunday. Abdullahel Baki, a local Shibchar Highway Police official, told reporters that "the passenger bus felt into a roadside ditch, leaving 14 passengers dead on the spot and about 25-26 were injured". He said three of the injured died on the way to local hospitals, Xinhua news agency reported. The accident occurred as its driver lost control over the vehicle and plunged the bus into a ditch on an expressway at about 7:30 a.m. local time. 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 inept drivers and lack of monitoring of the traffic department. /IANS