KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and SportsFriends, family remember bus crash victims

Friends, family remember bus crash victims

NEAR WABASHA, MN (KTTC DT) -- The victims of the Austin bus crash are being fondly remembered. 

Pamela Holmquist, 56, was from Kasson, and Rhonda Hill, 52,  from Plainview.

They said the news was shocking, and news is still settling in... just one day after a tour bus crossed lanes of traffic before landing in a ditch.

Levi Hill lost his mother, Rhonda,  in Wednesday's crash says he can't believe she's gone.

Rhonda Hill was the youngest passenger, and traveling alone on the bus that crashed just outside of Austin Wednesday.

"She's a good mom, she always did everything for us," says Levi.

Nearly two dozen people were returning to Rochester after a day trip to an Iowa casino when the tour bus crossed lanes of traffic before rolling in a ditch.

West of Rochester, another family grieved the loss of a loved one.

Thanksgiving lunch at Sunwood Manor in Kasson was nearly full Thursday afternoon --- except for the four people missing, two residents and their two children are very much missed.

Sunwood Manor's Joyce Sievert and her son Russ Denzer were treated and released. Resident Betty Holmquist was seriously injured. Her daughter Pamela was the second person killed in the crash.

"I don't know what to say, she was outgoing, outspoken, a lover of life," says Mary Iverson.

Both Holmquist and Hill are expected to be laid to rest next week.

12 of the 20 injured are still in the hospital.