Tragic Bus Crash in Hungary Leaves 12 Dead and Dozens Injured Along M3 Motorway

Emergency services were swiftly dispatched after a tourist bus from Poland went off the road and overturned in a ditch along the M3 motorway near Mezokeresztes, Hungary, on August 16, 2026. Police confirmed that a bus crash in eastern Hungary resulted in 12 deaths and left 10 people seriously injured.

The vehicle, carrying Polish tourists, overturned on Sunday on the M3 motorway near the town of Mezokeresztes, located 140km (87 miles) east of Hungary’s capital, Budapest. Travelling from Serbia to Poland, the bus was transporting 57 passengers and two drivers when it veered into a ditch and flipped over, according to law enforcement.

The national disaster management agency stated that 11 individuals were declared dead at the scene, while another victim succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. Additionally, the ambulance service reported that 37 people sustained minor injuries. Firefighters and other rescue personnel were forced to extract trapped passengers through the windows.

“A Polish-registered bus travelling on the M3 motorway towards Nyiregyhaza … veered off the straight stretch of road into a ditch and overturned. Preliminary information suggests the driver likely fell asleep,” police announced on their official website, adding that the bus driver has been taken into custody.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar extended his condolences to the grieving families of the victims and expressed gratitude to the rescue workers deployed to the site. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski shared a statement on X: “The consular service is operational. We are in contact with the Hungarian authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide verified information.” Polish President Karol Nawrocki also remarked: “It is with deep sorrow that I received the tragic news of the Polish bus accident in Hungary, in which so many of our compatriots died.”

This incident marks the deadliest road accident in Hungary since 2003, when a train collided with a German tourist bus at Siofok, resulting in 33 fatalities.