Worker Dies at BYD Hungary Plant Construction Site, Second in 4 Months

A worker died at the construction site of BYD‘s first European car factory in Hungary, the second death there this year, intensifying scrutiny of labour and environmental conditions at the Chinese automaker’s upcoming plant.

The Chinese national died after being struck by a truck at the site in the southern city of Szeged, the Csongrad-Csanad county police said.

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It was the second death at the site this year.

In mid-February, a worker was killed during a loading and crane operation on a Saturday shift.

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In May, a Chinese worker in his 40s survived after a truck ran over his leg, the ambulance service said, leaving him seriously injured but stable.

The incidents have sharpened attention on conditions at the project, which Magyar Hang has documented since March, when an industry source speaking on condition of anonymity described overcrowded vehicles without licence plates, roads covered in mud and water, dangerous ditches, fights among workers and labourers being ferried in vehicle boots.

The New York-based group China Labor Watch has alleged systemic abuses at the site, including excessive hours, withheld wages, opaque pay records and irregular use of visas.

Its director, Li Qiang, said Chinese workers laboured seven days a week, nine to 12 hours a day, often without rest days, with one worker’s annual overtime exceeding 1,200 hours.

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BYD has faced comparable allegations abroad, often centred on its contractors. In December 2024, Brazilian authorities halted construction of a BYD plant in Camacari, in the northeastern state of Bahia, after finding more than 160 Chinese workers hired by a contractor in conditions they described as “slavery-like.”

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The Szeged project has also drawn an environmental investigation. Hungarian authorities are examining claims that contaminated soil was moved from the construction site to farmland nearby.

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Authorities allege the company removed humus-rich topsoil without the required measurements or notification and spread it across about 20 hectares of farmland, a tenth of which was found to be contaminated with alkylbenzenes, according to local media.

The latest tests showed levels no longer above the legal limit, but affected farmers have been told to destroy crops grown on the land or face fines of up to 150 million forints ($490,000).

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