At least 17 people were killed and 30 injured when a speeding bus veered off the road and fell into a ditch in Bangladesh on Sunday, according to media reports.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that the Dhaka-bound bus operated by Emad Paribahan veered out of control on an expressway in Madaripur around 7.30 am, the police said.

The death toll is expected to climb as many of the injured were in critical condition, the police said.

Madaripur Police Superintendent Md Masud Alam said the injured were admitted to different hospitals.

"The accident is believed to be due to reckless driving and mechanical failure of the bus," bdnews24, a news portal quoted Alam as saying.

Shiplu Ahmed, Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Service, Faridpur, said, "It is believed that the wheel of the speeding bus burst and it lost control and fell into the ditch and hit hard." Three units of fire service are carrying out rescue work, said Lima Khanam, duty officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters who is carrying rescue efforts.

They said the dead and the injured were yet to be identified.