Bus carrying inmates crashes

Three inmates and a driver were injured Monday morning after an Orange County Sheriff’s Department bus crashed into a guardrail while leaving California Highway 133, authorities said.

The crash, which occurred about 9:20 a.m. on a northbound offramp at Irvine Boulevard, also involved a moving van, but it was unclear if the vehicles collided, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.

The bus driver and one inmate suffered moderate injuries. Two other inmates complained of minor injuries. All four were taken to a hospital, he said.

The bus was taking 42 prisoners from the inmate reception center in Santa Ana to the James A. Musick Jail in Irvine. The remaining inmates were to be taken by another bus to the jail, Amormino said.

-- Tony Barboza