The victims included a Massachusetts family and a woman from Worcester.
STAFFORD COUNTY, VA — A passenger bus traveling from New York City to Charlotte struck slowed traffic on Interstate 95 early Friday, killing three adults and two children and sending dozens of people to hospitals, Virginia officials said.
The crash turned a busy stretch of I-95 near Quantico into a large emergency scene before dawn. Virginia State Police said the bus hit six vehicles as traffic slowed for an upcoming work zone near mile marker 146. The dead were all inside vehicles hit by the bus. Federal and state investigators are now examining the driver, the bus company, the work-zone traffic pattern and the chain of collisions that followed.
The crash happened about 2:35 a.m. Friday on southbound I-95 in Stafford County, near the 610-Garrisonville exit and about two miles south of Exit 148 for Quantico. State police said the bus failed to slow as it approached traffic backed up ahead of the work zone. The bus first struck a Chevrolet Suburban, forcing it into an Acura SUV and other vehicles. The bus then struck more vehicles before coming to rest near the median area. “The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a statement. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles.”
Four of the people killed were in the Acura SUV, which caught fire after the collisions. Officials identified them by age and hometown as a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy from Greenfield, Massachusetts. Providence Christian Academy in Greenfield later identified the family as Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their children, Emily and Mark. A fifth victim, a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, was inside the Chevrolet Suburban. Police had not released her name by late Friday. Officials said 44 people were taken to hospitals in the Fredericksburg and Stafford areas, including three people with critical injuries.
The bus was operated by E&P Travel Inc., a company based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and was carrying about 34 passengers. Officials said it had left New York City on Thursday night and was headed to Charlotte, North Carolina. Virginia State Police identified the driver as Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York. Dong was injured in the crash. Investigators said charges are pending, but they had not announced specific counts by late Friday. Federal records reviewed after the crash showed E&P Travel had a satisfactory safety rating and had one reported injury crash involving its vehicles in the past two years.
Mary Washington Healthcare said it received 19 patients from the crash at two facilities. Seven were taken to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, where several remained in treatment Friday, including patients listed in serious or critical condition. Twelve others were taken to Stafford Hospital and later discharged in good condition. Stafford County Fire and Rescue said one injured person was flown to a hospital, while other patients were taken by ambulance to hospitals in the region. Federal Transit Administration spokesperson Peyton Vogel, who was at the scene, said patients had been spread across multiple hospitals and that the driver also was hospitalized. “This is one of the most tragic things I’ve ever seen,” Vogel said.
The crash shut down all southbound lanes of I-95 for several hours and caused long backups through the morning commute. The Virginia Department of Transportation said southbound lanes reopened around noon, though delays continued after the wreckage was cleared. Traffic was also diverted onto Route 1 during the closure. The crash site sits along one of the East Coast’s busiest highway corridors, near Marine Corps Base Quantico and between Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg area. State transportation officials said the work-zone traffic slowdown was part of the early findings, but investigators had not said whether road design, signs, speed, fatigue, distraction or vehicle condition played a role.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to Stafford County to conduct a safety investigation with state police. The agency’s work is expected to include the condition of the bus, the driver’s actions, company records, roadway conditions and the sequence of impacts. State police are handling the criminal investigation. Federal investigators often release an early factual report before completing a final report months later. Officials said the crash remains under investigation, and the names of all victims may be released after family notifications and coordination with authorities in Massachusetts.
Passengers described waking to the sound of impact, breaking glass and people screaming. Wayne Tobin, who was on the bus and traveling south for his mother’s funeral, said he was asleep when the crash threw him forward. Tobin said passengers smelled smoke and tried to get out as they checked on one another. Another passenger, who gave her name as Judy, said a stranger helped break a window so riders could escape. “You had blood, people bleeding, people screaming, the bus smoking,” Judy said. Tobin said he suffered shoulder, hip and back injuries and used his watch to contact family after being separated from his phone.
The crash remained under investigation Saturday, May 30, with charges pending against the driver and federal investigators preparing their first public briefing. Hospitals continued treating the most seriously injured while families in Massachusetts and survivors from the bus awaited more answers.
Author note: Last updated May 30, 2026.