How do y ou g et y our head round it when four daughters die?
Family’s anguish as limo crash kills 20
FAIL Fatal driver Scott Lisinicchia A DISTRAUGHT family yesterday faced up to losing four sisters in a faulty limo which crashed, killing 20 and orphaning two children.
The women died along with two brothers from another family in a vehicle that had failed an official inspection last month. Two lost couples were newlyweds.
Barbara Douglas, an aunt, said: “You can’t wrap your head around such a tragedy, where you have four of your daughters die.”
She spoke as it was revealed passengers in the doomed stretch SUV had texted relatives to say the vehicle was barely roadworthy, minutes before the tragedy on Saturday in upstate New York.
Their instincts were confirmed yesterday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said the limousine had failed an inspection by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles last month.
Additionally, he said the driver did not have the appropriate licence to be operating the vehicle.
“The owner of the company, in my opinion, had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road,” the Governor said.
SHOCK
Newlywed Amy Steenburg was celebrating her 30th birthday with sisters Mary Dyson, Allison King and Abby Jackson before the crash. Amy’s husband, Axel Steenburg, 29, and his brother, Rich Steenburg, 24, also died.
Amy and Axel are survived by two children – Archer, four, and baby Abby, 16 months. Mary’s husband, Rob, also died.
“One just got married, and that’s what this was – her new husband was giving her a surprise birthday party,” Barbara added at the scene of the wreck, in Schoharie, 35 miles west of Albany.
The group had visited wineries, and were heading to a brewery. “They did the responsible thing, so they wouldn’t be driving,” added Barbara.
Their brother, Tom King, 35, said: “They were the Four Musketeers, very tight,’’ adding that his parents were deeply “in shock”.
Twenty minutes before the crash, newlywed Erin McGowan, who died with husband Shane, texted to say the limo, driven by Scott Lisinicchia, 53, who also died, was “in terrible condition”.
The group of 17 had rented a bus that broke down and was replaced by the stretch which ran a stop sign at more than 60 mph and crashed into a car park.
It hit a 2015 Toyota Highlander SUV that killed two bystanders, said police investigating the worst US transport disaster in a decade.