Virginia State Police responded to a call of an accident on 30 May along the I-81 Highway in North Montgomery, where investigations revealed three deceased and one critically injured Lao person.
According to the Virginia State Police reports, an SUV carrying four people was traveling on the I-83 highway after attending a Lao New Year event in Tennessee.
The crash happened at 3:30 am on the northbound side of I-83, at mile marker 120.3.
Police say the driver of a Chevrolet Equinox SUV was pulling a U-Haul trailer headed north on Interstate 81 highway, when she lost control and spun around, coming to rest facing south in the northbound travel lanes. The Chevrolet was hit by a Freightliner tractor-trailer that was headed north.
The driver was later identified as Douangpee Amnatkeo, 54, who was from Pennsylvania. Police say she was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident and lost her life at the scene.
Three passengers also died, and have been identified as Monthy Matnopaseuth, 39, Ericssan Kathpratoum, 13, and Samiane Kothpratoum, 37 from Pennsylvania. None of the passengers were wearing seatbelts. Samiane Kothpratoum was greviously injured during the incident and had to be airlifted to the Roanoke Memorial Hospital where he later passed away.
Family of the deceased have set up a Gofundme page to “assist with the ever-increasing funeral costs to send our loved ones to the afterlife based on the Laotian traditions we were born and raised with.”
The family’s Gofundme has raised USD 23,831 out of the USD 50,000 goal.
