The Boston Globe

Nation

Mississippi crash victims mourned

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Funerals will be held this week for five young siblings and an adult who died when a sport utility vehicle driven by the children’s father ran off an eastern Mississippi road and into a creek.

All of the victims of Saturday’s crash near Philadelphia were members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and lived in the Pearl River community.

Tribe spokeswoman Misty Dreifuss said a funeral for the children, who ranged in age from 18 months to 9 years old, will be held Wednesday at a tribal building in Choctaw. A wake for the siblings was planned for Monday, she said.

A funeral for Dianne Chickaway, a 38-year-old friend of the children’s family, will be held Thursday at Hopewell Baptist Church in Leake County, according to Dreifuss. ‘‘It has hit the community very hard,’’ Dreifuss said, referring to the tribe.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and no charges were immediately filed.