A spokeswoman for the Perquimans County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction over the area, said that only the sheriff himself would disclose information and that he was unavailable. A helicopter like the one pictured crashed in eastern North Carolina killing four

It is unclear where the helicopter was headed when it crashed

Perquimans County, NC *Helicopter Crash* Duke Life Flight Chopper has crashed, fatalities reported. The Highway Patrol said the helicopter went down in an area near Swamp Road and Sandy Cross Road, near the Belvedere community, which is near the Gates County line. The newspaper said authorities did not yet know what caused the crash, which was under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board. 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.”

Duke Life Flight operates a state-of-the-art fleet of two rotor wing aircrafts and a fleet of critical care, advanced life support, and basic life support ground ambulances, according their website.
A Duke University medical helicopter crashes near Belvidere, North Carolina, killing four people.