EDITORIAL: It was a great job following a tragic crash

Published 3:01 pm Saturday, November 21, 2009

It was a tragedy that happened here. On Wednesday, a tour bus flipped over on Interstate 90 about three miles west of Austin, killing two passengers and injuring 21 others.

State investigators say it may take weeks or even months before they know the exact cause of the crash.

What we do know right now is this.

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Our local emergency crews did an excellent job at this horrifying site, shutting down the interstate, getting the passengers and driver off the bus, coordinating with medical officials and getting I-90 back open as soon as possible.

Local medical personnel, from Albert Lea to Austin to Rochester then did a great job with handling the increased workload to make sure the injured were all well taken care of.

Austin has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. We live in a community with excellent emergency crews that can work well under extreme circumstances, such as a flood, a fire or a bus crash.

We also have access to some of the best medical care in the nation if not the world.

Wednesday’s event was an awful tragedy, but some good things happened as well.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families of those who died in this crash, and we commend all of our emergency and medical officials for their efforts following the accident.