Jersey City woman among the dead in bus accident

Family members of a Jersey City woman are grieving her loss after a violent bus crash that caused the wrongful death of four women. The bus crashed early on Tuesday morning on Interstate 95. The fatigued driver left I-95 and terrified passengers were thrown about the bus as it capsized and rolled onto its roof.

The terrifying experience was described by passengers as feeling like being thrown around like batter in a mixing bowl. People screamed as shattered glass flew inside of the bus and cut the helpless passengers. At least a third of the injured bus passengers were still hospitalized a day later from personal injuries sustained in the crash, which occurred early Tuesday morning in Virginia.

The family of the Jersey City woman waited over a day before they were told that she had died. They rushed from North Carolina and the Dominican Republic to the Richmond hotel where the American Red Cross housed the injured bus crash victims and family members.

Waiting for news of the woman’s whereabouts was agonizing to the family. They were huddled with four other families at the hotel and realized that the 25-year-old Jersey City woman was gone.

“They got four families here, and they got four people dead,” her uncle said.

The woman’s aunt said that she was friendly, outgoing and enjoyed visiting discotheques. Her family nicknamed her “Luli,” which means “sweet thing.”

A state policy which requires in-person next-of-kin identifications caused the more than 24-hour delay in the family being notified. The woman’s uncle believes that they waited too long to be notified and questioned why the bus company has failed to apologized to the grieving family members or offer to help with burial expenses.

Source: The Richmond Times-Dispatch, “Rider: ‘People were thrown everywhere,'” Kristen Green, 6/2/11