MINNEAPOLIS — The Tibetan community of Minnesota is mourning after a funeral was held for the Prior Lake father and son killed in a car accident on Thursday, August 15.
Nine-year-old Dawa Norbu and his dad, Tenzin Drukgyal, were killed on the Ohio Turnpike as the family was traveling to New York to meet the Dalai Lama. The mom, Thupten Choedon and 12-year-old daughter Tenzin were also in the car. Tenzin is still in the hospital in Ohio, undergoing multiple surgeries. The family says it may take up to a year for her to fully recover.
On the day of the crash, four people died in a total of three crashes involving 12 vehicles over a one-hour span, closing down a 15-mile stretch of the Ohio Turnpike near Toledo. At least ten others were injured.
One of the crashes led to a spill of sulfuric acid and caused a hazmat situation.
Per Tibetan tradition, attendees of the funeral laid a white scarf over each casket. A friend of the family read the remarks Tenzon's brother Kishila delivered on the father and son.
"Dawa is a very well mannered child, sweet little boy," the friend said. "The pain of grief is extremely intense while memories of Tenzin and Dawa flood our mind. It feels like a heart has been removed from our body."
Choedon's brother, Sonam Wangchuk, says Tenzin was someone the Tibetan community of Minnesota relied on.
"I find him as a very dedicated community worker, he voluntarily served as a teacher for Tibetan cultural school," Wangchuk said.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the crashes.