Virginia I-95 Crash Kills Five, Including Family of Four on Way to Wedding; Bus Driver Charged

A bus driver from China was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after a deadly crash on Interstate 95 in Virginia left at least five people dead and 44 others injured.

According to the Virginia State Police, 48-year-old Jing S. Dong, a Chinese national living in Staten Island, New York, “failed to slow for traffic” on May 29 and slammed into a Chevrolet Suburban. The impact triggered a chain-reaction crash involving more than eight vehicles and caused one vehicle to burst into flames.

The collision occurred around 2:30 a.m. in a work zone on Interstate 95. Dong, who was also injured in the wreck, was allegedly operating the tour bus in a “criminally negligent manner,” according to Virginia prosecutor Eric Olsen.

Olsen said the investigation remains ongoing, but evidence collected so far indicates the bus was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck multiple vehicles that had slowed due to construction-related traffic.

The resulting pileup involved numerous vehicles and left a trail of destruction along the interstate.

Authorities confirmed that five people died in the crash. Three of the victims, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, were inside the vehicle that caught fire following the collision.

CBS News Boston identified the victims as Dmitri Doncev, his wife Ecaterina, their daughter Emily and son Mark, all from Massachusetts. The family was reportedly traveling to South Carolina for a wedding when tragedy struck.

The fifth victim was identified as 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda, who was riding in the Chevrolet Suburban that was first hit by the tour bus.

Dong was arrested on May 30 while recovering in a hospital and was served with felony warrants. Authorities noted that he does not speak English. Each count of involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The bus involved in the crash was operated by E&P Travel and was traveling from New York to North Carolina. Police said approximately 44 people were transported to area hospitals, including three victims who suffered critical injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is assisting with the investigation and examining the circumstances that led to the crash.

“It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking, there wasn’t much, because of the speed and the severity of the collision,” NTSB member Tom Chapman said, according to CBS News, adding that it was still “too early yet to know exactly what was happening on board the vehicle.”

“One of the things that we do, as a matter of course, is we do a 72-hour look back to see what the driver’s activities were during the days leading up to the crash,” Chapman said, per the outlet. “So we’re looking for, you know, sleep issues, distraction issues, potential drug and alcohol issues.”

Investigators have not announced any additional charges, and the probe remains ongoing.