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Four dead after medical helicopter crashes in North Carolina

PERQUIMANS COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) – The North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) confirms there were fatalities in a helicopter crash in Perquimans County Friday.

Highway Patrol said it was a Duke Life Flight helicopter that crashed.  It went down around 11:45 a.m. in the area of Swamp Road and Sandy Cross Road.

The Sheriff’s Office and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are also involved in the investigation.

WISH-TV’s sister station WNCN in Raleigh confirmed with the North Carolina Highway Patrol that there are four confirmed fatalities. A Sentara spokesman says the medical helicopter departed from Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City and was headed to Duke Medical Center.

Duke health officials provided the following statement to WAVY.com, the website for WISH-TV sister station WAVY:

With deep sorrow we can confirm that a Duke Life Flight helicopter crashed early this afternoon near Belvidere, North Carolina. We are in the process of directly confirming information related to this incident and will share more information as it becomes available.”