Bus hits cars in Virginia, killing five people and injuring 34: State Police

Stafford (US), May 30 (AP) A bus crashed into vehicles slowing for a work zone on Interstate 95 in Virginia early on Friday, killing five people and injuring dozens, including the driver, authorities said. The crash happened at about 2.35 am on the southbound I-95 in Stafford County, near Quantico. All five of the people who died were in vehicles hit by the bus, and 44 people were taken to hospitals, including three in critical condition, police said.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles.” Police said there were “approximately” 34 passengers on the bus.

“We have got patients in multiple hospitals. We have got the driver at a hospital here,” said Peyton Vogel, a Federal Transit Administration spokesperson who was on the scene. “I have got to say, this is one of the most tragic things I have ever seen. Absolutely tragic.”

Four of the fatalities were in one car, which caught fire. State police said the victims were a 45-year-old male, a 44-year-old female, a 13-year-old female and a seven-year-old male, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts. Their names were not released by police, but a statement from the school the children attended in Greenfield said they were Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their daughter, Emily, and son, Mark.

“The Doncev family was a cherished part of our school community, and their loss is being felt deeply by our students, families, faculty, and staff,” Providence Christian Academy said.

The fifth victim, an unidentified 25-year-old female from Worcester, Massachusetts, was in an SUV that was struck by the bus. State police identified the bus driver as Jing S Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York. Charges are pending, authorities said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on the social media platform X that Dong was an American citizen originally from China who got his commercial driver’s licence two years ago in New York.

Mary Washington Healthcare said it received 19 patients from the crash. It posted online that seven of the patients were taken to its trauma centre in Fredericksburg, where four were being discharged and three remained in treatment — one in serious condition and two in critical condition. Twelve were taken to its hospital in Stafford, where they were later discharged in good condition.

The National Transportation Safety Board posted online that it was sending a “go-team” to conduct a safety investigation into the crash and that it would have a spokesperson at the scene.

The southbound lanes had reopened by noon, but traffic was still backed up for a couple of miles, according to a state transportation advisory. Bus company had a satisfactory record

The bus was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. A compliance snapshot from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration showed only one injury accident involving the company’s vehicles in the previous two years and listed its safety rating as “satisfactory”.

The company was incorporated on November 24, 2023, by Shuo Liu, according to records from the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office. Liu is also listed as the registered agent.

The FMCSA site said the company operated four vehicles and had 11 drivers.

While it is too soon to say what caused Friday’s crash, federal authorities have been grappling with interstate passenger bus safety issues for decades.

Following a series of passenger bus crashes in 2008 that killed 41 people, the US Department of Transportation published a Motorcoach Safety Action Plan.

The NTSB investigated 16 fatal motorcoach crashes between June 1998 and January 2008, finding that driver-related problems, such as fatigue, medical condition and inattention, accounted for 56 per cent of the accidents. The agency said driver-related problems were responsible for 60 per cent of the fatalities in those crashes.

Among the actions recommended were the creation of a pre-employment driver history screening programme and a national drug- and alcohol-testing database “to enable motorcoach operators to determine if drivers have a history of violating DOT alcohol or drug rules”.