UPDATE:  One Fatality in Accident on N.C. Highway 12 in Avon

Traffic on N.C. Highway 12 was stopped on both sides of Ace Hardware and the Food Lion shopping plaza in Avon from approximately 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., when traffic slowly resumed in both directions.

The accident involved a Dare County sanitation truck and a white utility van. The Dare County Sheriff’s Office, local fire departments, and Dare County EMTs responded to the accident.

The driver of the utility van, 45-year-old Juan Carlos Pajares-Fernandez, passed away after being flown via US Coast Guard helicopter to the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia. The driver of the Dare County sanitation truck was taken to the Outer Banks Hospital and later released. He was charged with misdemeanor death by a motor vehicle.