--- title: "Second Worker Dies at BYD's Hungary EV Plant as Labor Scrutiny Deepens" description: "A Chinese national was killed at the construction site of BYD's first European car factory in Szeged, Hungary, on June 18 — the second death there this year — deepening scrutiny of a project already facing forced-labor allegations and questions in the European Parliament. A contractor has been fined over safety lapses." category: "Companies" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/companies author: "Marcus Feldman" published: 2026-06-25T09:42:00.000Z updated: 2026-06-25T09:42:00.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/second-worker-dies-at-byd-s-hungary-ev-plant-as-labor-scrutiny-deepens tags: ["byd", "hungary", "electric-vehicles", "labor", "eu-tariffs"] --- # Second Worker Dies at BYD's Hungary EV Plant as Labor Scrutiny Deepens A Chinese national was killed at the construction site of BYD's first European car factory in Szeged, Hungary, on June 18 — the second death there this year — deepening scrutiny of a project already facing forced-labor allegations and questions in the European Parliament. A contractor has been fined over safety lapses. A second worker has died at the construction site of BYD's car factory in Szeged, Hungary — a project that was already drawing scrutiny over its labor practices before the latest fatality. ## What happened A Chinese national was killed at the Szeged site on June 18, [CNBC reported](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/second-worker-dies-at-hungary-byd-factory-scrutinized-for-labor-issues.html), after being struck by a truck. According to Hungarian authorities cited in local reports, a truck stopped beside a loader and pulled away after the loader operator signaled the path was clear, hitting the worker as he stepped between the two vehicles; paramedics, including a rescue helicopter crew, could not save him. Police opened proceedings over a fatal workplace accident. A formal cause has not been determined, and the investigation is continuing. BYD confirmed the worker was a Chinese national. It is the second death at the site this year. Another worker died in February during crane operations, after which Hungarian authorities opened an investigation, [Daily News Hungary reported](https://dailynewshungary.com/chinese-worker-dies-at-byd-factory/). A contractor at the site, AIM Construction Hungary, was fined about 34.5 million forints (roughly $110,000) over occupational-safety failings. ## A site under investigation The deaths come amid a wider inquiry into conditions at the plant. In April, the New York-based monitoring group China Labor Watch published a report, based on interviews with dozens of Chinese migrant workers, alleging seven-day work weeks, long shifts and the withholding of part of workers' wages until they returned to China — patterns it said were consistent with forced-labor indicators. The contractor linked to the allegations has ties to a company involved in a 2024 labor controversy at a BYD plant in Brazil. The scrutiny has reached Brussels. BYD became the first Chinese company raised in the European Parliament over alleged labor abuses at a European facility, [CNBC reported in April](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/28/byd-eu-parliament-labor-abuse-hungary-factory-investigation.html), with lawmakers asking the European Commission to look into conditions at Szeged. BYD, in its statement after the June death, said it was "deeply shocked and sincerely saddened" and was "fully cooperating with the relevant local authorities"; it did not address the broader labor allegations in that statement. ## Why BYD is building in Hungary BYD — short for Build Your Dreams — is China's largest electric-vehicle maker and the world's best-selling EV brand by volume. The Szeged plant is its first purpose-built passenger-car factory in Europe, a project reported at up to €4 billion and designed for a few hundred thousand vehicles a year. The strategic logic is tariffs. Electric vehicles built in China and shipped to the EU face an extra duty of around 27%, imposed in 2024 after the bloc concluded that Chinese EV makers benefited from unfair state subsidies. By assembling cars inside the EU, BYD can sell across the single market without those tariffs. Production at Szeged, originally targeted for late 2025, has slipped and is now expected later in 2026. ## What it matters The second death in four months puts BYD under pressure at a delicate moment — as it tries to plant a manufacturing flag in Europe while managing tariff friction, labor-practice allegations and a schedule already running behind. For European policymakers, Szeged has become a test of whether the bloc's labor, safety and competition rules apply as firmly to a Chinese investor as to a domestic one. ## Sources - [Second worker dies at BYD's Hungary factory already under scrutiny for labor practices](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/second-worker-dies-at-hungary-byd-factory-scrutinized-for-labor-issues.html) - [Chinese worker dies at BYD factory construction site in Hungary](https://dailynewshungary.com/chinese-worker-dies-at-byd-factory/) - [BYD draws EU scrutiny over labor abuse allegations at Hungary factory](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/28/byd-eu-parliament-labor-abuse-hungary-factory-investigation.html)