The charter bus driver from Staten Island, involved in the tragic accident on I-95 in Virginia, has been formally charged following a devastating crash that claimed five lives. The incident occurred on Friday, leaving a family en route to a wedding among the victims.
Virginia State Police have charged 48-year-old Jing S. Dong with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Authorities suggest more charges could follow as the investigation progresses. Meanwhile, there is uncertainty regarding Dong’s current custody status or whether he has legal representation.
Further compounding the situation, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy highlighted that Dong does not speak English. This revelation has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to initiate an investigation into Dong’s language proficiency, raising questions about communication barriers in the transport sector.
As federal investigators delve deeper, they have disclosed that the E&P Travel Inc. motorcoach was traveling at a considerable speed with little to no braking before it collided with a work-zone traffic backup near Quantico. This detail paints a grim picture of the chaotic moments leading up to the crash.
The development comes as federal investigators reveal the E&P Travel Inc. motorcoach was moving at a high rate of speed with little to no braking before slamming into a work-zone traffic backup near Quantico.
“It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking there wasn’t much, because of the speed and severity of the collision,” said Tom Chapman, an NTSB board member.
The victims have been identified as Priscilla Mafalda, 25, and a Massachusetts family of four — Dimitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark — who were traveling to a family wedding.
The bus was traveling from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina.