Bus driver charged with manslaughter in massive crash that killed 5 on I-95

The driver of the bus at the center of a deadly chain-reaction crash on Interstate 95 in Virginia has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, Virginia State Police said Saturday.

Five people were killed and 44 others injured in the Friday crash.

Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York, who suffered injuries and remains hospitalized, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, with additional charges pending, the state police said.

"Even as the Virginia State Police continues to conduct a complex investigation, I have determined that probable cause presently exists to establish that the driver of the tour bus caused this crash and, at the time of the crash, he was driving in a criminally negligent manner," Stafford County Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Olsen said in a press release.

Dong will be held without bond pending his appearance in Court, according to Olsen.

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

As traffic slowed for a work zone, the bus kept moving at speed and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and police.

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

All told, the chain reaction crash involved at least eight vehicles, the Stafford County commonwealth's attorney 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, identified as Priscilla R. Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 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.

Tom Chapman, a board member with the NTSB, said Saturday it was too early to confirm any potential causes for the collision.

He said the NTSB was looking at possible factors, including impairment or mechanical issues, and were seeking any videos that may exist to assist in the investigation.

Chapman also said that investigators were seeking to determine if the driver did any braking prior to the accident to avoid it.

"It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking, there wasn't much because of the speed and the severity of the collision, but it's too early yet to know exactly what was happening on board the vehicle," he said.

The federal agency was investigating several driver factors including fatigue, impairment, qualifications and medical events, as well as highway factors, including work zone designs, whether variable speed limit signs were used and whether the end of the traffic queue was monitored.

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," he added.

Attorney information for Dong was not immediately available.

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.

-ABC News' Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.