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COMO – A single vehicle accident claimed the life of a Virginia Beach man near here Sunday afternoon.

Ferlin Ophelia Sr., age 57, lost his life in the crash that occurred around 3 p.m. on Boones Bridge Road near its intersection with Whitley Road.

According to a report filed by North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Z.B. Mize, Ophelia was operating a 2023 Chevy SUV when it traveled off the road to the right, causing the driver to overcorrect. The vehicle then crossed the centerline and traveled off the left side of the road where it struck a ditch and a tree. The vehicle caught on fire at that point.

Volunteer firefighters from Como and Murfreesboro and personnel from the NC Forest Service responded to the scene along with Hertford County Sheriff’s deputies and Hertford County EMS.

The fatality was the 12^th of the year in the NCHP’s Troop A / District II zone (Bertie, Gates, and Hertford counties). Six of those fatalities have occurred in Hertford County.