Fiery crash kills six people on road trip

(Norwood-WABC, July 27, 2007) (WABC) -- Six people from the Bronx are dead, killed in a horrific accident on their way down south. At least five were family members, originally from Trinidad.

They died earlier this week, while traveling to buy cheaper car insurance-- and only now are they being identified.

Eyewitness News reporter Michelle Charlesworth has the story from Norwood.

This was such a violent accident that there was almost nothing left of the car, a Honda Accord. But after the crash and the fire, it was nearly impossible to visually identify the victims. They range in ages from 11 to 24, originally from Trinidad but living in the Bronx.

The pictures from the scene tell the horrific story.

The fiery crash took place Tuesday afternoon on Route 58 in Suffolk Virginia, about 30 minutes southwest of Norfolk. Flames and pieces of both vehicles shot through the air on impact.

Marshall Williams was driving right behind the Honda. He says the driver was going way too fast and may have fallen asleep.

"I saw the Honda go across the road and just right on into the truck," Williams said.

On impact, both the truck and the Honda went up in flames. But while two men staggered out of the truck, none of the six people packed into the Honda ever moved.

Williams grabbed his fire extinguisher and tried to get them free, but he says other people just didn't help.

"The biggest problem was a lot of people wanted to spend a lot of time taking pictures with their cell phone than trying to get fire extinguishers and help," said Williams.

The names and ages of the deceased are:

1. Putrina Gopaul, 24
2. Anthony Gopaul, 21
3. Emmanuel Gopaul, 16
4. Anderson Gopaul, 13
5. Jessica Gopaul, 11
6. Family members don't know the name of the sixth person, believed to be a family friend.

Officials are still not sure who was driving or how the accident happened.

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