A year after the tragic DC midair collision, first responders and others are remembered by victims’ families as heroes

He ultimately decided to leave his son with family, while he and his sister traveled to face the devastation. In the days following the collision, Lane and the other victims’ families felt tremendous sorrow and loss after suffering the unimaginable. That’s when their attention shifted from the victims to taking care of the victims’ families, he said. Donnelly said he made himself and Dr. Francisco Diaz, DC’s chief medical examiner, available to the victims’ families after the crash to ask questions. Days after the crash, family members were taken privately by the NTSB to visit the crash site.