Child dies after human-trafficking vehicle crashes in Hungary

Budapest, Aug. 1, (dpa/GNA) – A child being transported in a vehicle carrying irregular migrants died after the vehicle left a motorway south of Budapest and crashed in the early hours of Tuesday, Hungarian police reported.

The vehicle, carrying seven passengers, crashed while travelling on the M5 some 70 kilometres to the south of the Hungarian capital, police in the regional capital of Kecskemét said. The reason for the accident was unclear.

They reported that five other passengers were injured and that the vehicle had been driven by a Moldovan citizen. The child, whose age was not given, died at the scene. The driver was detained, local news portal baon.hu reported.

The M5 links Budapest with Röszke on the border with Serbia and is regularly used by human traffickers taking migrants from Turkey to Central Europe.

Hungary erected fencing along the border with Serbia in 2015 amid a large wave of migration, but traffickers have helped migrants to overcome this barrier.

GNA