This may be one of the saddest things you ever read. I know it was one of the saddest articles I have ever written.

The Khiev family of Atlantic City and New Hampshire lost three siblings about 9 pm Sunday, Dec. 26 when their car crashed into the eastbound toll booth at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza.

According to State Police, the crash happened at 9:08 pm Sunday, with the car bursting into flames shortly after the crash.

Reachthon “Tonny” Khiev, 31, and Reachsieh “Johnny” Khiev,27, and a younger sister, Keotepie Khiev, 14, died in the accident, according to their sister, Mimi Khiev.

A younger sister, age 12, was able to get out of the car before it burst into flames. The 12-year-old is a student at the Texas Avenue School.

Keotepie, also known as Keo, is remembered as "a beautiful, intelligent and very sweet girl. Keo was the first Cambodian-born American in the family of 9. She was currently a 9th grader attending Atlantic City High School."

Keo was a classmate of my daughter Bridget's English class at ACHS.

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On the GoFundMe page, Mimi Khiev says Johnny and Tonny were visiting their little sisters from New Hampshire to surprise them for the holiday weekend.

They were on their way back home to drop off their sisters from a day full of shopping and dinner. Unfortunately, it was their best and last Christmas as a family.

Mimi Khiev says the family of nine children was largely reliant on financial support from Tonnny and Johnny, who were born in Cambodia and came to America when they were very young. They were in-home care providers for people with disabilities in New Hampshire.

My brothers were the only ones who were financially earning and supporting the family. With them gone, we are struggling to transition to a life without them during this time of grievance.
This unimaginable loss has left my family with unforeseeable expenses. This GoFundMe has been established in order to ease the burden of all three of their funeral expenses for my family.

The GoFundMe campaign, originally established to raise $40,000 had raised almost $28,000 in the first four hours, including an anonymous $10,000 donation.

A local minister who was a bystander to Sunday's toll plaza crash and helped the surviving Khiev girl get safely away from the vehicle before it exploded has written a heartbreaking account on Instagram about the crash and the failed rescue attempts that followed.

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