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HORRY COUNTY, S.C. – Two  patients in South Carolina have died after being inside a transport van that flooded.

WPDE reported that it happened in Horry County on Highway 917 Tuesday night as the van was in still water on Pee Dee Island Road near the bridge.

The deputies in the van were rescued, but the patients who were chained in the back of the van died. Their names haven’t been released.

The patients were being taken from Loris Hospital and Waccamaw Mental Health Hospital to McLeod, according to WPDE.

Initial reports suggested that the victims were inmates, but officials have clarified that they were mental patients.

The Horry County Sheriff’s Office transport van was still in the water as of about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, WPDE reported.

Several roads in the area were closed due to flooding.