Fourth Crash Victim Buried

The fourth victim of the fatal March 17 accident on the New York State Thruway, April Lao, 14, was laid to rest at the Chun Fook Funeral Home in Flushing on March 31.
Her parents, Kam and Karen Lao, family members, community supporters, students from Stuyvesant High School and the Flushing YMCA’s Flushing Flyers Swim Team were at the Buddhist ceremony and funeral procession, which was led by April’s cousins and officiated by a master monk from the Lao’s homeland of Vietnam.
The funeral had originally been scheduled with the expectation that 10-year-old Andy Lao, April’s younger brother, would be released from the hospital and be able to attend. However, doctors had ordered him to remain at Westchester Medical Center for further observation.
After learning of his sister’s death, Andy said, “I really miss my sister and my best friend [Douglas Jiang]. I can’t believe they’re gone.”
April was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
Karen Lao and her son Andy are still recovering from injuries sustained in the accident, which claimed the lives of April Lao, along with Shuk Tse, 47, and her two sons Kevin Kwan, 16 and Douglas Jiang, 10.