13-year-old, 7-year-old amongst 5 killed in huge crash on I-95 in Virginia: Police

Five people were killed and 44 were injured in a massive crash between a bus and multiple vehicles on Interstate 95 in Virginia early Friday morning, according to state authorities.

The accident unfolded at about 2:35 a.m. on I-95 south in Stafford County, about 45 miles south of Washington, D.C., the Virginia State Police said.

As traffic slowed for a work zone, a bus did not slow down and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, police said.

The bus then hit other cars, while the Suburban was forced into an Acura SUV and other cars, police said.

The Acura caught fire, police said. Four of the five people killed were in the Acura: 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, police said.

The fifth victim killed, a 25-year-old woman, was in the Suburban, police said.

Forty-four people were taken to hospitals, including three with critical injuries, police said.

The bus — which was en route from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina –was carrying about 34 people, police said, noting that the bus driver, Jing S. Dong, 48, suffered injuries.

Charges are pending, police said.

According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, federal investigators are reviewing Dong’s commercial driver’s license and training records to determine whether he was qualified to drive a bus.

“Local police confirm the driver of this motorcoach — a man from China who became a U.S. citizen — doesn’t speak English. He received his commercial drivers license from New York State in 2024. Unacceptable,” Duffy said on social media. “If you can’t be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus.”

The crash initially closed all lanes of I-95, Virginia’s Department of Transportation said, causing massive delays for the Friday commute. All lanes have since reopened.