Bus driver charged after I-95 crash kills 5, including family bound for wedding

A commercial bus driver faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter after his motorcoach slammed into slowing traffic in a Virginia highway construction zone early Friday, killing five people — including four members of a Massachusetts family who were on their way to a South Carolina wedding — according to Virginia State Police.

The dead include Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, a Moldovan immigrant family that had settled in Massachusetts after arriving in the United States in 2008. Their deaths have drawn fresh scrutiny to motorcoach safety and driver oversight on one of the East Coast's most heavily traveled corridors.

The crash occurred around 2:35 a.m. when the motorcoach, operated by E&P Travel Inc. on a run from New York to North Carolina, barreled into traffic slowed by construction, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. The bus struck a Chevrolet Suburban, which was then pushed into the Acura carrying the Doncev family.

Tom Chapman, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said investigators were examining why the driver made virtually no effort to stop. "It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking there wasn't much, because of the speed and severity of the collision," Chapman said. The NTSB is also reviewing the language proficiency of driver Jing S. Dong, 48, as part of its probe.

Dmitri Doncev, 45, a nurse, and his wife Ecaterina, 44, a hairdresser, had loaded homemade desserts into the car to share at the wedding, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Their two children, Emily and Mark, also died in the crash. The family had emigrated from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Massachusetts.

Dmitri's brother Iuri had been traveling with the family but the two cars became separated along the way. Relative Carolina Bublik described the agonizing wait that followed: "At some point they ended up getting separated. Dmitri said, 'You go ahead. I'll catch up later.' It was a big shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he wasn't picking up the phone — that's when the family started panicking," Bublik told ABC7 Los Angeles.

Priscilla Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, also died in the crash. Virginia State Police said Dong was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was briefed on the crash, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Bublik captured the full weight of the loss in a few words: "A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us," she said.

Dong faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Virginia. The NTSB investigation, covering the driver's braking response and language proficiency, is ongoing, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.