ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The Coast Guard and partner agencies have recovered the bodies of two people aboard a helicopter that went down in the Albemarle Sound area earlier this week.
Officials were notified on Monday at 6:40 p.m. by a concerned friend that they had lost all communication with the two people aboard a Robinson R44 helicopter.
Police say the two men left from Mecklenburg Brunswick Regional Airport and planned to land at the Dare County Regional Airport the same evening.
At 10:46 a.m. Tuesday, someone recovered a backpack with personal belongings inside about 3.5 miles south of the mouth of the Alligator River.
At 11:27 a.m., the Jayhawk aircrew discovered helicopter debris in the water approximately 9 miles north of the Alligator River Bridge in the Albemarle Sound.
On Thursday, July 22, officials were notified that one of the people who was inside the aircraft was located in the sound. Responders recovered the body of 35-year-old John Arant of Virginia.
Shortly afterwards, they found the body of his brother, 36-year-old Alan Arant, also of Virginia, who was the pilot.
The cause of the incident is under investigation.
