Eight people were killed in two separate road accidents that occurred within a short span of time on a highway in western Hungary early Friday, police said.
The first accident took place around 4:30 am near the city of Győr when a truck collided with a road construction vehicle and caught fire. One person was killed in the crash, which also caused major traffic disruption on the highway.
About 30 minutes later, a minibus carrying Moldovan registration plates crashed into a truck that had stopped on the highway following the earlier accident. Seven people died in the second collision, while two others suffered serious injuries, according to police.
Following the accidents, authorities shut down one lane of the M1 motorway heading toward Austria.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar expressed sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives.