By Peter Biello
Wilmington, NC – Thirteen US Marines and one civilian were injured Thursday morning when three busses carrying the Marines to training crashed in eastern North Carolina.
Investigators believe the last of three busses in a convoy rear-ended the bus it was following twenty miles north of Camp Lejeune Marine Base. A bus driver was critically injured.
The 59 Marines and one sailor aboard were not seriously hurt, but Captain Clark Carpenter says the thirteen injured Marines were sent back to base for treatment.
"These Marines had mass-casualty training," Carpenter says. "They were able to triage the Marines very quickly. And when the first responders arrived on scene, the Marines did have some order on the situation and were able to assist those first responders."
The Marine Corps says this accident will not delay training, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Norfolk, Virginia.
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