33-year-old twin brothers from Rhode Island killed in car crash on Christmas Eve: “Two beautiful souls”

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Twin brothers from Rhode Island died last week after their car went off the road on Christmas Eve.

The brothers, identified by family members to WJAR as Ruddy and Alberto Morales, 33, were driving west through Massachusetts on Interstate 195 when their Honda Accord struck a median, left the roadway and struck trees around 11 a.m. on Dec. 24, Massachusetts State Police said in a news release.

Both men were taken to a local hospital where they were pronounced dead, police said. No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Police are working with the Accident Analysis and Reconstruction Division and the Crime Scene Services Division to determine the cause of the accident, they said. The department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for more information about the accident.

Alberto’s long-time girlfriend Melissa Talavera told The Boston Globe that the two brothers were “very close”.

“We were always all together,” she added. “It was always me, him, my children and his brother.”

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Ruddy's girlfriend, Julia Andreozzi, told WJAR that she and her son were preparing to see Ruddy later in the day.

“Devastated – I'm at a loss for words,” she told the news channel about the accident. “My son and I were getting ready for Christmas Eve – we were going to see Ruddy – his father – later that evening, and around 12 o'clock that same afternoon I got a call that they had gone off the highway and hit a tree and that the accident was fatal.”

“Ruddy was the love of my life and the father of my son,” she added. “I'm just grateful that he had the life he had. He had great friends – he had a loving family. He was loved by a lot of people.”

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Talavera told The Boston Globe that she celebrated Christmas with Alberto earlier this year – and that one of her last memories was that he called it “the best Christmas” of his life.

“That's what hurts the most,” she told the newspaper. “That's the last thing I remember him saying to me, and he must have said it to me three or four times.”

Talavera also remembered Alberto as “the best father” of her two-year-old daughter, while her mother globe that he was also a “great stepfather” to Talavera’s four other children.

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A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help the brothers' family with funeral costs. As of Monday afternoon, over $3,300 had been raised.

“Help us lay to rest these two beautiful souls who lost their lives far too soon in a car accident,” wrote Talavera, who organized the fundraiser.

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Andreozzi told WJAR that the family is doing its best to get through the tragedy.

“It's going to be tough,” she told the news channel, “but I think if we all stick together, we'll find a way to get through this.”