3 killed, 1 seriously hurt in Tukwila rollover crash that was left undiscovered for hours

TUKWILA, Wash. — Two brothers killed in a devastating accident were laid to rest Wednesday.

They and another young man died when their vehicle careened off South 128th Street in Tukwila and hit an old sewer tank Sunday night.

The tragic scene wasn’t discovered until Monday morning.

We were at the heartbreaking scene outside Tukwila’s Abu Bakr Mosque Wednesday afternoon.

A grieving father was in the embrace of his Somali family and friends, as they said goodbye to his oldest children, 23-year-old Zekariah Abdi and his 22-year-old brother, Yahya.

“It’s so tragic that two brothers, the first born and the second born of the family, who had a lot of potential for the family, very wonderful kids, have passed away this way,” said Mohamed Hassan.

The family asked Hassan, a Somali community leader, to speak about the shattering loss. He said there have been questions about why so much time passed before the fatal accident scene was discovered and that perhaps someone’s life could have been saved.

“But however, as our Muslim faith, we believe that when your day comes, there is not a single minute that you will be extended,” Hassan said.

That tragic day came Sunday night for the Abdi brothers and their friend, 23-year-old Luis Llampa. They and a fourth man were inside a vehicle that apparently lost control and slammed into a decommissioned sewer lift station.

“The car was all the way embedded against that,” said Roy Sweeney, walking to the scene. “You couldn’t see half of that container. It was in the car.”

Sweeney was on his way to work at an addiction center run by the Union Gospel Mission when he came upon the terrible scene.

He said he saw just one person.

“He was laying right over here,” Sweeney said. “He wasn’t alive.  He wasn’t breathing.”

It has deeply affected him.

“It’s just sad they were here all night,” he said. “It’s sad.”

The lone survivor, a Foster High School student in Tukwila, is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center.

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