Reachthon “Tonny” Khiev, Reachsieh “Johnny” Khiev, Keotepie “Keo” Khiev.Photo: GoFundMe
Four siblings were tragically involved in a fatal car crash over the weekend after their vehicle slammed into a toll booth.
The incident took place just after 9 p.m. on Sunday when a Honda struck a toll booth on the Atlantic City Expressway, becoming “fully engulfed” in flames, New Jersey State Police tell PEOPLE in a statement.
The driver of the vehicle as well as two passengers sustained fatal injuries, while a fourth passenger was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police say. An attendant working at the toll plaza also sustained “moderate non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the crash,” according to authorities.
The victims were identified as Reachthon “Tonny” Khiev, the 31-year-old driver, Reachsieh “Johnny” Khiev, 27, and Keotepie “Keo” Khiev, 14. The two brothers were from Manchester, New Hampshire, while Keo lived in Atlantic City.
Family friend Jimmy Giang told ABC affiliateWPVIthat the two brothers, who worked as in-home aides for people with disabilities, had gone home to Atlantic City to surprise their younger sisters, 12 and 14, for Christmas.
“They were on their way back home to drop off their sisters from a day full of shopping and dinner,” their sister Mimi Khiev — who was not in the vehicle — wrote on aGoFundMepage. “Unfortunately, it was their best and last Christmas as a family.”
Wil Del Valle, a pastor who witnessed the crash while driving home with his wife, shared his own account of the tragic incident on social media .
“As we got to [the] toll, Sharon, my wife, gasped and pointed at a fire happening at one of the tolls on the other side,” hewrote. “We got to the toll booth to pay and I asked ‘Hey is everyone okay?’ The toll collector kept saying ‘Oh my god, oh my god, I don’t know a car just hit the toll booth.’ "
After calling 911, the pastor said that he “noticed a girl walking away from the burning car.”
“With the help of one of the other men we got her over, and I picked her up into my arms,” he recalled. “When we tried to get her to walk but she continued to stumble so I picked her up into my arms and ran to the toll booth offices. I kept saying ‘It’s okay’ and she continued to repeat ‘No it’s not, my brothers and sister are in the car.’ "
Although the pastor says he “ran back” to the vehicle to try and help the girl’s siblings, tragically it was too late.
“Everyone was in shock, no one expected this,” he recalled. “I won’t forget the sounds or smells, and I won’t forget this brave 12 year old girl who got out of the car, and was desperately thinking of her family. She wanted them out of the car but she did all she could. All this to say that this girl, these people did all they could, and it was incredibly sad.”
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TheGoFundMe pagecreated to help their family members has raised over $57,000 as of Wednesday morning, exceeding its $40,000 goal.
In a statement, their sister remembered Tonny and Johnny, who moved to the U.S. from Cambodia at a young age, as both having “a huge heart.”
“Their caring nature not only translated through their career, but also through their endless kindness to everyone they encounter,” Mimi wrote. “They touched so many people’s lives and deserved so much more life than they got.”
“They both had aspirations of opening up a donut shop and moving their whole family to live with them in New Hampshire,” she added.
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Mimi also remembered her little sister — a 9th grader at Atlantic City High School — as “such a beautiful, intelligent and very sweet girl.”
“Keo was the first Cambodian born American in the family of 9,” Mimi wrote, noting that her sister was also a “proud” ROTC member and had “dreams of studying abroad in Paris.”
According to Mimi, her brothers “were the only ones who were financially earning and supporting” their family.
“With them gone, we are struggling to transition to a life without them during this time of grievance,” Mimi wrote. “This unimaginable loss has left my family with unforeseeable expenses. This GoFundMe has been established in order to ease the burden of all three of their funeral expenses for my family. We appreciate any donation you can contribute. Thank you all for keeping them in your thoughts and prayers.”
In a GoFundMe update, organizer Giang shared that any donations the family receives after hitting their fundraising goal will “be used to fulfill Tonny and Johnny’s hopes of moving the rest of his family to New Hampshire so they can be closer with each other during this tragic time.”
Additional funds will also go towards medical costs for their sister who survived the crash.
“Life is too short so please hug your loved ones and don’t take them for granted,” Mimi wrote in another update. “In an instant, everything you have can disappear in a blink of an eye.”
Those interested in donating to the family’s GoFundMe can do sohere.
source: people.com
