A haredi couple and their future in-law were killed in a tragic car accident Monday night along New York's Route 17, close to Manhattan.
Moshe Morris Potilowitz and his wife, who has not yet been named, were killed along with the father of their daughter's fiance, Yehuda Beim.
Their three children traveling in the car with them - including the bride-to-be - were seriously injured in the crash. The wedding was scheduled to take place after the upcoming holiday season.
Emergency teams who arrived at the scene succeeded in extracting the victims from the car and administered emergency first-aid, but were forced to declare three of the victims dead after a short period. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident.
Manhattan's haredi community have been hit hard by the tragedy. Relatives of the victims say they were well known in the local community, noting that Moshe worked tirelessly for various charitable causes, included heading the Hatzalah volunteer paramedic service on the Lower East Side. His wife worked as a nurse at Manhattan's Beth Israel hospital.
According to the Behadrei Haredim haredi news site, one of the victims killed in the accident was a Hatzalah member who served for a time in the New York Police Department, during which he was involved in the frantic rescue attempts during the 9/11 attacks in New York City.
The site claimed he was saved "miraculously" after one of the towers collapsed as he was attempting to evacuate survivors.