MARSHALL (KYTX) - An entire community joins together to remember five children killed in a car accident last week.
They were all cousins, and Sunday the two families held a funeral for all of them at the civic center in Marshall.
There was not an empty seat or a dry eye in the building. Everyone was focused on five small coffins, side by side, holding the children that hundreds knew and loved.
"They were just really good kids. There's not enough good things you can say about them, and it's a horrible tragedy that no one's going to be able to get over. Ever," says Tammy Esquivel, whose two daughters are cousins with the five children killed in the accident - Yulisa and Saideth Acuna, and Omar, Judy, and Rosvelia Jaimes.
"They are wonderful beautiful children that Rosevalia was looking forward to having her 15th birthday party, her quincinera, and that's all she'd been talking about," Esquivel says.
The children were riding in a seven-seater car, packed with 12 people. Only two were wearing seat belts. A tire blew on I-20, the car rolled multiple times. Five were killed, and four were injured. The accident has shaken an entire community.
Father Dencil Vitanagi with St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marshall has been the Jaimes and Acuna's pastor for the last decade.
"I miss my little children," he said.
He's helping both families cope with their loss, as he grapples with the tragedy himself.
"Our hearts are filled with sadness."
He says the number of people that showed up to the funeral was simply overwhelming.
"I'm very grateful to all those people who came in numbers to help all of us," Father Vitanagi said.
Family members say they're touched by all the love and support.
"It's beautiful to see so many people come together," Esquivel says. "It's just so sad it has to be for something like this."
She says it will take all that support to get them through this tragedy.
The driver of the car, Federico Acuna, lost two of his own children in the accident. Police say he could face charges for driving a car without so many car seats and seat belts.
