Tehran: At least 16 people were killed and 12 others injured on early Saturday when a speeding bus smashed into an electricity pole in northern Iran, state television reported.

It quoted a police official as saying that the driver of the bus, that was travelling to the capital Tehran from a city near the Caspian Sea, was driving at high speed and lost control of the vehicle.

The accident came a day after at least 30 people were injured when a truck driver crossed a railroad at high speed and crashed into a train in the north of Iran.

Iran has a good road network but accidents caused by reckless drivers kill thousands each year.

Last year more than 16,000 people were killed in road accidents, according to the traffic police quoted by state television website IRINN, down from 28,000 deaths a decade ago.