STAFFORD COUNTY, Virginia — A family was asleep in their car. A bus was barreling down I-95 in the dead of night. And in seconds, five people were dead.
A catastrophic crash unfolded just after 2:30 a.m. Friday on I-95 southbound near the 146-mile marker in Stafford County, Virginia, when a commercial bus failed to slow down as traffic backed up ahead of a work zone and plowed into six vehicles.
The impact was devastating.
A Family of Four Never Made It Home
Four of the five victims were traveling together in one car — a car that caught fire after the collision.
Virginia State Police identified them as Dmitri Doncev, 45, and Ecaterina Doncev, 44, along with their daughter Emily, 13, and son Mark, 7. The family was from Greenfield, Massachusetts. A statement from the children’s school confirmed their names.
The fifth victim was a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts. She was inside a Chevrolet Suburban that was also struck in the crash.
All five people who died were passengers in vehicles hit by the bus. No one on the bus was killed.
Who Was Driving the Bus?
Authorities identified the driver as Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York.
Dong was injured in the crash. His current condition has not been confirmed by officials.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on social media that Dong is an American citizen originally from China and obtained his commercial driver’s license just two years ago in New York.
Charges are pending, authorities said, though investigators have not yet stated what caused the bus to fail to stop in time.
The Bus Route and the Company Behind It
The bus was operated by E&P Travel, Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
A company representative confirmed to local station that the bus was on an overnight route from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina. The company offered no further comment.
34 Injured — Three Still Critical
Of the 34 people taken to nearby hospitals, three were critically injured.
Nineteen patients were transported to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Seven of those went directly to the trauma center. Two remain in critical condition. Five have been treated and discharged.
Twelve additional patients were taken to Stafford Hospital. All twelve have since been discharged.
Governor Responds, Investigation Underway
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger addressed the crash in a statement Friday morning.
“My heart is with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and I am praying for a quick recovery for those injured,” Spanberger said.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are now working alongside Virginia State Police to determine exactly what happened in the moments before the bus struck those six vehicles on one of the East Coast’s busiest highways.
The investigation is ongoing.
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