CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A 22-year-old EMT — one of three people who recently died in a horrific crash on I-464 — is being remembered by her loved ones as a courageous, compassionate young woman dedicated to helping others.
On Sunday, Skye Oraczewski from Elizabeth City was in an ambulance with her co-worker, a family friend tells News 3. She was eager to learn after officially becoming an EMT back in June.
However, tragedy unfolded around 2:30 a.m. when police say the ambulance was hit head-on by a sedan driving the wrong way in the southbound lanes near Exit 2 at Military Highway. The impact caused both vehicles to catch fire.
"I felt like I failed them and that really bugs me," Kim Johnson, who saw the aftermath of the crash and stopped to help, said.
"When I approached the vehicle to try and pull the door, that's when the flames, and Mr. Anderson were yelling the same thing, help me help us, and I said I'm trying, and it just erupted," Johnson said.
Johnson said another bystander got Oraczewski and 53-year-old Stephen Michael Anderson out of the ambulance.
Previous coverage: Three dead after wrong-way crash involving ambulance on I-464 in Chesapeake, state police say
Oraczewski and her coworker were taken to the hospital, but state police say neither survived. The driver of the sedan died at the scene.
The incident remains under investigation, state police say, and alcohol and speed are being investigated as contributing factors in the crash.
Loved ones of Oraczewski are now trying to cope with the sudden, heartbreaking loss.
"They're just really going through it, the family is devastated," said Kelsey Graham, a family friend who launched a fundraiser for funeral expenses.
Graham has known Oraczewski since she was 11 years old and is good friends with her mother. She described Oraczewski as someone whose calling was to help others.
“She was just a super compassionate, sweet, hardworking kid,” Graham said.
Graham added that family was very important to Skye. She loved her boyfriend and spending time with her siblings. Sunday was Skye’s little brother’s birthday, an event she would have planned to attend that evening.
“I can’t even begin to imagine what her mother is feeling, along with her family,” Graham said. “Again, like I was saying, the whole family is super close.”
A service will be held on Sunday at 2 p.m. for Oraczewski in Virginia Beach at Altmeyer Funeral Home.
