DHAKA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A head-on collision between a gas tanker and an auto-rickshaw killed five people in Bangladesh's northwestern Kushtia district on Saturday, an official said.

Md Abu Obayed, officer-in-charge of the Kushtia district's Chourhash Highway Police station, told reporters that the deadly crash happened at around 2:30 p.m. local time when the auto-rickshaw collided with the liquid gas tanker.

All five occupants of the auto-rickshaw, the driver and four passengers, were killed in the road mishap, Obayed said.

"Three people died on the spot, and two more were pronounced dead after being rushed to a local hospital," he added.

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. ■