5 Dead, Dozens Injured in Virginia Bus Crash, Driver Doesn’t Speak English
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Five people, including two children, were killed and dozens more were injured early Friday when a Charlotte-bound passenger bus plowed into traffic slowing for a work zone on Interstate 95 in northern Virginia, authorities said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Friday night that the driver is a Chinese national who does not speak English.
“He received his commercial drivers license from New York State in 2024,” Duffy said. “Unacceptable.”
“This is exactly why we are holding states’ accountable, enforcing the rules of the road, and cracking down on drivers who can’t speak English,” Duffy added. “If you can’t be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus.”
He said investigators are reviewing New York licensing records, training documentation, and the driver’s history.
“Any company, trainer, or school that contributed to putting an unqualified driver on the road will face intense scrutiny,’ he said. “My prayers are with the loved ones of the innocent lives lost and those who were hurt in this horrific crime.”
The crash happened around 2:35 a.m. in the southbound lanes near mile marker 146, just south of the Quantico exit, according to Virginia State Police and local reports.
Rhonda Wright was asleep when the bus she was riding crashed into the first vehicle.
“It jolted me awake, and I heard bang, bang, bang. The bus was going really, really fast,” she told The Washington Post.
The bus was operated by E&P Travel and was headed from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, when investigators say it failed to slow down and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving an Acura SUV and several other vehicles.
A first responder to the scene reported “multiple people jumping out of windows, multiple vehicles on fire,” according to radio traffic archived on Broadcastify.com.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release quoted by the Associated Press. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles.”
All five of the victims were in vehicles struck by the bus, authorities said. Four were in the Acura that caught fire after the collision — a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts. A fifth victim, a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, was in the Suburban, according to WTVR CBS 6.
Survivors described a nightmare scene of smoke, shattered glass and terrified passengers trying to escape the bus.
“It jolted me awake, and I heard bang, bang, bang. The bus was going really, really fast,” passenger Rhonda Wright told The Washington Post.
Another passenger, identified only as Judy by WTVR, said the crash erupted in chaos: “Boom, people screaming on the bus, glass flying everywhere, the bus turning over.” She added, “You had blood, people bleeding, people screaming, the bus smoking. A stranger came, bust the window open and let us all out. I’m thankful for that.”
Passenger Wayne Tobin, who told WTVR he had been traveling to his mother’s funeral, said there was “blood everywhere” as stunned passengers tried to understand what had happened. “I just want to get home,” Tobin said. “I’m just so happy that I’m allowed. I just want to make it home.”
The bus driver was identified as Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York. State police said charges are pending and that investigators are reviewing the driver’s actions before the crash, according to WWBT’s 12 On Your Side.
Transportation Administration spokesman Peyton Vogel, who was on the scene, called the wreck “one of the most tragic things I’ve ever seen. Absolutely tragic.”
Mary Washington Healthcare said it received 19 patients from the crash, including patients taken to its trauma center in Fredericksburg and Stafford Hospital. The National Transportation Safety Board sent a “go-team” to investigate the deadly crash, according to the AP.