AMSTERDAM (New York): A ceremony for the victims of the limousine crash that killed 20 people ended with participants lifting candles above their heads to signal unity and perseverance.

Over 1,000 people jammed a riverside park in Amsterdam, New York, for Monday night’s vigil as victims’ relatives tried to come to grips with the tragedy that happened as a group of friends and family were on their way to a 30th birthday party.

The supersized limo ran a stop sign and hit a parked SUV on Saturday in Schoharie.

Authorities have yet to say how fast the limo was going or determine why it failed to stop and sped off the road at the bottom of a long hill.

The wreck killed two pedestrians and all 18 people in the limousine, including four sisters who were headed with friends and relatives to a brewery for a party for one of the sisters.

The four sisters’ aunt, Barbara Douglas, said they had felt “they did the responsible thing getting a limo so they wouldn’t have to drive anywhere”.

Investigations ongoing

Authorities haven’t released the driver’s name, but friends and relatives identified him on social media as Scott Lisinicchia.

“The investigation is STILL going on and the facts are not verified,” his niece, Courtney Lisinicchia, wrote on Facebook.

The state moved to shut down the owner, Prestige Limousine, as state and federal authorities investigated the cause of Saturday’s wreck in Schoharie. The company said it was taking its cars off the road while conducting its own probe into the crash.

Investigators plan to examine the mangled limo’s data recorders and mechanical systems as well as the road, which has a history as a danger spot. They are also looking into the driver’s record and qualifications and conducting an autopsy to see if drugs or alcohol were factors.

But officials already saw some red flags, Cuomo said: The driver didn’t have the necessary commercial licence, and the vehicle failed a state inspection that examined such things as the chassis, suspension and brakes.

“In my opinion, the owner of this company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road,” the governor said while attending a Columbus Day Parade in New York City. “Prestige has a lot of questions to answer.”

He also said the limo built by cutting apart a heavy-duty SUV and lengthening it had been created without federal certification, though NTSB officials said they hadn’t yet determined whether the vehicle met federal standards.

Prestige Limousine issued a statement on Monday expressing condolences to victims’ families and saying it was conducting “a detailed internal investigation” while also meeting with state and federal authorities.

The Gansevoort, New York-based company said it pulled its cars from the road voluntarily. But state police say they seized four Prestige cars, including the one that crashed.

Federal records show the company has undergone five inspections in the past two years and had four vehicles pulled from service.

In inspections Sept 4, the company’s limos were cited for defective brakes, lack of proper emergency exits, flat or balding tires, defective windshield wipers, and other maintenance problems.

An attorney for Prestige said on Tuesday the safety violations were fixed before Saturday’s wreck. Lee Kindlon told CBS News he doesn’t think the recent infractions contributed. He told the Times Union of Albany the driver may have been unfamiliar with the roadway.

Limo owner was FBI informant

Federal transportation records show Prestige is owned by Shahed Hussain, who worked as an informant for the FBI after the Sept 11 attacks, infiltrating Muslim groups by posing as a terrorist sympathiser in at least three investigations. In one case, he helped convict men accused of plotting to bomb New York synagogues.

His role at the FBI was assailed by civil liberties groups, who accused him of helping the FBI entrap people. Asked on Monday about Hussain, the FBI wouldn’t comment.

The crash appeared to be the deadliest land-vehicle accident in the US since a bus full of Texas nursing home patients fleeing 2005’s Hurricane Rita caught fire, killing 23. Saturday’s wreck was the nation’s deadliest transportation accident of any kind since a 2009 plane crash near Buffalo, New York, killed 50 people.

Factory-built limousines must meet stringent safety regulations. But luxury cars converted to limos, like the one in Saturday’s crash, often lack such safety components as side-impact air bags, reinforced rollover protection bars and accessible emergency exits.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018