The driver of a motor coach bus that killed five people and injured more than 40 others after crashing in Virginia on Friday morning has been criminally charged.
Jing S Dong, 48, faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter, with additional charges likely, according to Virginia state police.
Meanwhile, as it carries out a federal investigation into the wreck, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said speed, speed, fatigue and language proficiency are being investigated as factors in the particularly large accident.
The driver, a US citizen from China, does not speak English, according to investigators. Officials also said there had evidently been only little braking before the crash due to its speed and severity.
Dong – of Staten Island, New York – crashed into vehicles that slowed down upon approaching a work zone on interstate 95 in Stafford county about 2.35am Friday. Among those killed were a family of four from Massachusetts who were on their way to a wedding in South Carolina with a carload of homemade desserts for the event.
The wedding was going forward on Sunday, though guests would also simultaneously mourn the loss of Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark, a relative said on Saturday.
The family emigrated from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Dmitri was a nurse at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecaterina was a hairstylist who spent several days making desserts for the wedding.
The family was driving together – but in separate vehicles – with Dmitri’s brother Iuri.
“At some point, they ended up getting separated,” relative Carolina Bublik said to the Associated Press. “Dmitri said, ‘You go ahead. I’ll catch up later.’ It was a big shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he wasn’t picking up the phone – that’s when the family started panicking.”
A GoFundMe campaign set up for the family’s funeral expenses by Sunday had exceeded its fundraising goal of $50,000.
The campaign’s page said the Doncevs “became a cherished part of their community and touched countless lives” through their displays of “faith, kindness, and dedication to others”.
Virginia state police said the E&P Travel bus that Dong was driving from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, failed to slow when other traffic did around the work zone at the center of the case.
The bus hit a Chevrolet Suburban SUV, which hit an Acura driven by the Doncev family. Priscilla Mafalda, a 25-year-old of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was in the Suburban, also died in the crash.
Forty-four others were treated for injuries.
Dong was taken to a nearby hospital for injuries while under arrest. Prosecutors said his first court appearance would not be until after his discharge from the hospital, with a magistrate approving his being kept in custody without bond until that time.
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