2 Marines Die in Test-Drive Crash
Two Marines were killed and a third was injured when the eight-wheeled light armored vehicle they were test-driving crashed down an embankment at Camp Pendleton, authorities said Wednesday.
The names of the victims--all of whom were veterans of the Persian Gulf War and assigned to the 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion of the 1st Marine Division--were being withheld until families were notified, a military spokesman said.
Theirs were the fifth and sixth fatalities involving training at or near Camp Pendleton in the past three months.
On March 28, two sailors were swept to their deaths when their Humvee, a jeep-like utility vehicle, stalled in rushing waters in the rain-swollen Santa Margarita River during a night-time amphibious training mission.
On June 19, two Marine aviators were killed when their Cobra attack helicopter crashed just after midnight during a training flight over the Naval Weapons Station next to Camp Pendleton.
The most recent incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday when the three Marines were driving their LAV-25, a light armored vehicle topped with a 25-millimeter tank gun.
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