Federal investigators said they are examining whether fatigue, impairment, medical issues or other factors played a role in a bus crash that killed five people, including two children, in Virginia early Friday.<\/p>\n
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The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday a six-member team has joined the investigation into the crash on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, about 40 miles south of Washington, D.C. Investigators will review the driver\u2019s actions in the 72 hours before the collision, including possible sleep issues and potential drug or alcohol impairment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are particularly interested in issues relating to, first, motor coach driver factors, including fatigue, impairment, qualifications, and medical events,\u201d NTSB member Tom Chapman said. \u201cHighway factors, including work zone designs, whether variable speed limit signs were used, and whether the end of the traffic queue was monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crash occurred at around 2:35 a.m. when the bus failed to slow and struck as many as six vehicles near the 146-mile marker in Stafford County, Virginia State Police said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n
Among the dead were four people in an Acura hit by a Chevrolet Suburban in a chain reaction, the agency said. A 7-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, a 44-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts, were killed, Virginia State Police said.<\/p>\n
A 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, in the Suburban directly struck by the bus was also killed, the agency said. The bus also hit other vehicles, it said.<\/p>\n
The victims\u2019 names have not been publicly released.<\/p>\n
An additional 44 people were hospitalized with injuries, three of them in critical condition, Virginia State Police said. The agency said about 34 people were on the bus, though they did not break down the injury status of those on board.<\/p>\n
Investigators are also trying to determine whether the bus driver attempted to brake before impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems fairly clear that if there was any braking, there wasn\u2019t much, because of the speed and the severity of the collision,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cBut too early yet to know exactly what was happening on board the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virginia State Police said the preliminary investigation showed that traffic was slowing southbound on Interstate 95 for a work zone when the bus failed to slow down, triggering the fatal crash.<\/p>\n
The bus was headed from New York City to Charlotte, N.C., the state police said. A focus of the crash investigation is the driver\u2019s actions before the crash, the agency said. It said charges were pending.<\/p>\n
The driver was identified as Jing S. Dong, 48, of New York City. NBC News was unable to find contact information for someone of that name in New York City.<\/p>\n