Tragic Accident in Virginia Claims Family Members

Four out of the five individuals killed in a bus crash in Virginia were members of a Massachusetts family, heading to a wedding with their vehicle loaded with desserts for the event. While the wedding will proceed on Sunday in South Carolina, it will also be a time of mourning for Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark, as shared by a relative on Saturday.

“A son, a father – the entire family – all beloved to us,” stated Carolina Bublik.

The Doncev family perished early on Friday when a passenger bus collided with vehicles that had slowed down due to roadwork on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia. A fifth person, a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, died in an SUV, authorities reported. Several others received medical treatment, including one in critical condition, though most were discharged from the hospital, according to Mary Washington Healthcare.

A member of the National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to discuss the investigation with reporters on Saturday.

The bus was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Virginia State Police identified the bus driver as Jing S. Dong, 48, from Staten Island, New York.

Dmitri, 45, and Ecaterina, 44, emigrated from Moldova to the United States in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Bublik explained. Dmitri worked as a nurse at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecaterina was a stylist and spent days preparing desserts for the family wedding, according to Bublik.

Dmitri and his brother Iuri aimed to stay together during their journey in separate vehicles towards South Carolina.

“They ended up separated at some point,” Bublik recounted. “Dmitri told Iuri: ‘You go ahead, I’ll catch up later.’ It was a massive shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car didn’t arrive and he didn’t answer the phone, that’s when the family started panicking.”