A family of four from Massachusetts were killed when A The bus collided with multiple vehicles In Virginia they were traveling to a wedding with a car loaded with homemade sweets to celebrate.
The family wedding will take place Sunday in South Carolina, but it will also be a time to mourn the loss of Dmitry and Ekaterina Donsev and their children Emily and Mark, a relative said Saturday.
“Son and father – the whole family – everyone is dear to us,” Karolina Bublik said.
The Donsevs died early Friday when a motor bus collided with slowed-down vehicles in a work zone on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia. A fifth person, a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, died in an SUV, authorities said.
More people were treated for injuries, including one person who was in critical condition, though most have been released from the hospital, Mary Washington Healthcare said.
A member of the National Transportation Safety Board plans to speak to reporters about the accident investigation on Saturday.
The bus was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Virginia State Police identified the driver as Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York.
Bublik said that Dmitry (45 years old) and Ekaterina (44 years old) immigrated to the United States from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Dmitry was a nurse working at Holyoke Medical Center. Bublik said Ekaterina was a hairdresser and spent days preparing desserts for the family wedding.
Dmitry and his brother Yuri tried to stay together as they traveled in separate cars to South Carolina.
“At some point we ended up breaking up,” Bublik said. “Go ahead. I’ll catch you later,” Dimitri said. It was a big shock when Yuri arrived home. Dmitry was supposed to arrive around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he did not answer the phone, then the family began to panic.”