9 MARINES HOSPITALIZED AFTER BUS CRASH.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

Nine Camp Pendleton Marines were flown by helicopters to San Bernardino-area hospitals Tuesday after a Marine Corps bus rolled down an embankment off Highway 395.

The other 23 Marines on board were picked up by an Edwards Air Force Base bus and driven back to to the base for treatment of minor injuries, officials said.

``They're arranging to let them stay on the base (Tuesday night),'' said a Pendleton spokeswoman, Gunnery Sgt. Lesli Coakley.

Of the nine injured Marines flown to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and Loma Linda Medical Center in Loma Linda, seven were expected to be released Tuesday. The other two will be held overnight for observation, Pendleton officials said.

The 8:25 a.m. crash closed the highway for about three hours some seven miles south of its junction with Highway 58, east of Edwards Air Force Base.

The bus was part of a four-vehicle convoy carrying approximately 100 Marines and their equipment for training at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center near Bridgeport. The Marines were part of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, based at Pendleton.

A California Highway Patrol statement said the Marine corporal driving the bus allowed it to drift onto the highway's raised asphalt curb.

The driver then steered back too sharply to the left, sending the bus across the highway and off the far side, the CHP said.

The bus rolled down an embankment and came to rest on its wheels, the CHP said.

Two U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters from Fort Irwin, a Mercy Air helicopter and a California Highway Patrol helicopter arrived at the crash scene to assist the injured.

The Army helicopters transported seven of the injured and the Mercy Air helicopter transported two.

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MAP: Site of bus crash; nine injured