The accident took place in Burgenland, close to the border with Hungary. Twenty people, including children, were crammed into the back of the van. Two men and a woman were killed in the accident. The driver was arrested.
In May, the Austrian Interior Ministry announced that it had dismantled a network that smuggled tens of thousands of mostly Syrian migrants from Hungary to Austria.
In 2015, 71 bodies, including those of children, were found in a sealed truck taking the illegal immigrants from Hungary to Austria. The people had suffocated in transit and were discovered on the Austrian side of the border. Four people smugglers involved were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.