A coach that was transporting Hungarian high school students (14–18 yrs old) and their teachers back from a skiing trip in France collided with the highway traffic barrier, crashed into a bridge pylon, and then caught fire.

There were 56 people on board: two drivers, teenage students from the Szinyei Merse Pál Gimnázium [hu] in Budapest and adults accompanying them including one teacher's family, returning from skiing in France.

[6][7][8] The Setra S317 GT-HD coach was travelling on the A4 motorway at San Martino Buon Albergo near Verona, when, for unknown reasons, the vehicle collided with the traffic barrier and then crashed into a bridge pylon.

One driver Lanfranco Fossa stayed for over an hour to help translate for rescue crews, as the students did not speak Italian, only Hungarian and English.

To help the survivors and victims' families in coping with the psychological shock after the crash, several Hungarian psychologists travelled to Verona.

[13] On that day, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, President János Áder, Parliamentary Speaker László Kövér and other officials attended a military ceremony in which the national flag at Kossuth Lajos Square in front of the Hungarian Parliament was raised and then lowered to half-mast.

[10] The Italian ambassador to Hungary and hundreds of students, parents and relatives gathered outside the school mourning the accident and paid homage by lighting candles, memorial photos, drawings and laying flowers.