North Carolina Marines Investigate Injuries from Helicopter Crash

A North Carolina Marine Corps base is investigating why people attending a chili festival were hurt by flying debris as a military helicopter took off.

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point spokesman Mike Barton said Sunday investigators haven’t spoken to eyewitnesses and the search and rescue chopper’s crew likely didn’t see what happened.

The incident happened Saturday as the helicopter was leaving the Havelock Chili Festival to return to the base just a couple of miles away.

Four people were taken to a hospital after air the helicopter’s rotors blew over tables and tents.

An eyewitness tells WCTI that a man was hit in the face by a table, one woman appeared to have a broken leg, and a teenage girl and a younger girl suffered injuries that caused bleeding.