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Doctor from Knightdale clinic involved in Georgia plane crash

A vascular surgeon who works for a Knightdale clinic was one of seven people aboard a small plane when it crashed late Wednesday in eastern Georgia.

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THOMSON, GA. — A vascular surgeon who works for a Knightdale clinic was one of seven people aboard a small plane when it crashed late Wednesday in eastern Georgia.

Dr. Steven Roth, two ultrasound technicians, a nurse anesthetist and a secretary who work for the Vein Guys were aboard the plane along with two other people, Dr. Stephen Davis told the Associated Press Thursday. Davis works for the Vein Guys clinic in Nashville, Tenn. 

Five people died in the crash, but authorities have not released their identities. Other Vein Guys offices are located in Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., Augusta and Atlanta.
The location in Knightdale was closed Thursday, and a sign on the front of the building cited a "recent tragedy" as the reason for the closure. The other locations were also closed.
The Hawker Beechcraft 390/Premier I carrying Roth and six others had departed from Nashville before it crashed at the airport shortly after 8 p.m.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane crashed into a wooded area near Thomson McDuffie-Regional Airport, west of Augusta, after aborting a landing and hitting a utility pole.

Thomson-McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall said the identities of those killed were being withheld pending notification of family members. 

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead says the bodies were taken to Decatur for autopsies.

Two people aboard the plane who survived were taken to a hospital in Augusta. Their conditions have not been released.

Assistant County Fire Chief Stephen Sewell told the Augusta Chronicle that the two survivors were a pilot and a passenger, but he provided no additional information about those aboard.

Roth, a Pittsburgh native, received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech and his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, according to the Vein Guys' website.

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