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Read the press release here.

Teens Who Drowned in Bronx to Be Buried in the Dominican Republic This Week

 Community members raised funds to send the family of the two 13-year-old cousins who drowned in the Bronx River to their burial in the Dominican Republic Wednesday.
Erikson Villa, Wellington Gavin Burial
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THE BRONX — Relatives of the two 13-year-old cousins who drowned in the Bronx River earlier this month will escort the teens to the Dominican Republic for their burial this week thanks to more than $14,000 in donations raised by the community.

Nine relatives of Wellington Gavin and Erikson Villa, including the teens' parents, siblings and extended family, will accompany the boys' bodies on a series of JetBlue flights to the Dominican Republic Tuesday morning, according to the family’s spokesman, Rev. Joel Bauza.

The boys will be laid to rest on Wednesday at a cemetery in San Francisco de Macoris alongside other family members, relatives said.

Funds for the transportation and burial came from more than 100 private donors — some of whom donated as little as $1 — as well as the Acacia Network, a Bronx-based social services agency that picked up the $8,000 funeral costs, Bauza said.