DHAKA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and 15 to 16 others injured in a head-on collision between two trucks in Bangladesh's Sylhet region, some 240 km northeast of the capital Dhaka, on Sunday morning, a senior police official said.

Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) Commissioner Abdul Quddus Chowdhury told Xinhua over mobile phone that the crash happened around 6 a.m. local time when a truck carrying jackfruit collided with another truck transporting laborers.

"Four people were killed on the spot and four more later passed away from their injuries either at a hospital or while being transported there," he said.

Chowdhury said that approximately 15 to 16 people were injured in the crash, some of whom received initial treatment at local hospitals, and two are reported to be in critical condition.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

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. ■