Stafford County, VA, USA. — A festive family road trip turned into an unimaginable tragedy early Friday morning when a commercial charter bus plowed into slowing traffic on Interstate 95, triggering a massive chain-reaction crash that left five people dead.
Among the victims were four members of a single Massachusetts family who were driving through the night to attend a weekend wedding in South Carolina. Relatives said the vehicle was packed with homemade desserts that 44-year-old Ecaterina Doncev had spent days baking for the celebration.
Instead of a wedding celebration, the family is now mourning the loss of Ecaterina, her husband Dmitri Doncev, 45, and their two young children, 14-year-old Emily and 7-year-old Mark. The family, originally from Moldova, had immigrated to the United States in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where Dmitri worked as a nurse at Holyoke Medical Center and Ecaterina was a hairstylist.
According to Virginia State Police, the disaster unfolded around 2:35 a.m. in the southbound lanes of I-95 in Stafford County, near Quantico. Traffic had begun to bottleneck and slow down for an active highway construction zone ahead.
Investigators say the southbound motorcoach failed to slow down and slammed heavily into the back of a Chevrolet Suburban. The violent impact propelled the Suburban forward, causing it to strike the Doncev family's Acura SUV, which immediately caught fire.
The driver of the Suburban, 25-year-old Priscilla R. Mafalda of Worcester, Massachusetts, was also killed in the crash.
Dozens of other motorists and bus passengers were injured in the pileup. Emergency responders transported 44 people to local hospitals, including Mary Washington Hospital, with at least two passengers reported in critical condition. Witness Wayne Tobin, a passenger on the bus, described waking up to total chaos, recalling that there was blood everywhere as panicked passengers held their heads.
The driver of the bus, 48-year-old Jing S. Dong of Staten Island, New York, has been arrested and charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. The Stafford County Commonwealth's Attorney’s Office noted that additional charges are highly likely. Dong was also injured in the collision and remains under medical care at a local hospital, where a magistrate ordered him held without bond until he can make his first court appearance.
Federal authorities have stepped in to launch a comprehensive safety probe. The National Transportation Safety Board sent a specialized "go-team" to investigate the wreck. NTSB board member Tom Chapman told reporters that preliminary evidence indicates the bus was traveling at a high rate of speed. He noted that due to the sheer severity of the collision, it appears there was very little, if any, braking before the impact.
The bus, carrying approximately 34 passengers from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
Federal investigators are looking closely at the transit company's compliance history and the driver's background. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that Dong does not speak English. Under federal Department of Transportation regulations, commercial drivers must possess sufficient English proficiency to read highway signs and answer official inquiries. The NTSB confirmed that language barriers and the driver’s schedule over the previous 72 hours will be central to their months-long investigation.
In Massachusetts, Greenfield Mayor Virginia DeSorgher expressed deep sorrow over the loss, stating that the entire community stands in mourning with the family's surviving loved ones during an unimaginably dark time. Relatives shared that the wedding in South Carolina would still move forward on Sunday, but would now be re-dedicated as a time to remember and honor the lives lost.
