Distressing new video showed people struggling just after a pier collapsed into the waters off Georgia’s Atlantic seacoast on Sapelo Island on Saturday.
The horrific incident left seven people dead while others remain hospitalized in critical condition following the gangway’s collapse.
Hundreds of people gathered for a fall celebration by the island’s tiny Gullah-Geechee community of black slave descendants and were awaiting a ferry to return back to the mainland when the ‘catastrophic failure’ occurred.
Among the dead was 77-year-old Charles Houston Jr., of Darien, a chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Carlotta McIntosh, 93, Isaiah Thomas, 79, Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75, Cynthia Gibbs, 74, all of Jacksonville, Florida and William Johnson Jr., 73, and Queen Welch, 76, both from Atlanta.
Icy White, who recorded the horrific event at the ferry dock, watched in horror as tourists tried their best to cling onto the railing, while others jumped into the water to save people.
Video from the horrific scenes on Saturday showed people holding on for dear life after a pier collapsed into the waters off the state’s Atlantic seacoast on Sapelo Island in Georgia
Frantic scenes showed people hopping in to help those stranded in the water. Seven people died in the tragedy
‘There was no time for anyone to get off. It took seconds,’ White told the Associated Press, while her cousin, Darrel Jenkins, said: ‘We were the EMS.’
The frightening clip showed a large group of people hanging onto the collapsed pier that was partially underwater.
‘Oh my God, where’s my aunt?,’ White screamed as others frantically yelled around her.
Some were seen floating in the murky water, while people tried to jump in and grab those left stranded.
White continued to scream: ‘Who can help? Who can swim? Please, help! Help! Help! The bridge fell! It fell! Please help! People are in the water!’
Another clip showed people floating in the water as orange life vests were thrown their way.
People were seen being rescued one by one, while others tried to reassure White as she continued to worry.
People are seen in the water just after the gangway broke as Icy White, who recorded the horrific event from about 30ft away at the ferry dock, cried out for help
White then showed two men hopping into a nearby boat to try and help the people floating in the water, while another clip showed others being pulled onto a sandy shore.
Shrieks were heard across the water as people tried to understand what was happening.
At the end of the video, a woman was seen covering her face and crying as White assured her that she was going to ‘be alright.’
During a news conference Sunday, GDNR Commissioner Walter Rabon said the catastrophic moment was caused by ‘a structural failure.’
‘There should be very, very little maintenance to an aluminum gangway like that, but we’ll see what the investigation unfolds,’ he said.
Rabon said ‘upwards of 40 people’ were on the gangway when at least 20 fell into the water.
Carlotta McIntosh, 93 (left), and Cynthia Gibbs, 74 (right), were among the victims
Isaiah Thomas, 79 (left), and Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75, also lost their lives that day
The gangway, installed in 2021, gave way as an estimated 700 people visited largely unspoiled Sapelo Island, about 60 miles south of Savannah and 7 miles offshore. No bridge connects the island to the mainland.
People traveled there Saturday for the annual fall Cultural Day event spotlighting Hogg Hummock, home to a few dozen black residents.
The community of dirt roads and modest homes was founded after the Civil War by former slaves from the cotton plantation of Thomas Spalding.
After the pier fell into the water, the U.S. Coast Guard, the local fire department and sheriff’s office joined the search and rescue efforts.
Rabon noted that if bystanders hadn’t jumped into action immediately after the gangway broke, more people would’ve lost their lives.
‘Their quick response and action saved additional lives,’ he said.
Word of the deadly incident soon made its way back to the festival site, as Island resident Jazz Watts wasted no time getting to the dock where he witnessed rescuers saving those in the water.
Another resident, Reginald Hall, said he ran into the water and soon rescued a young kid along with others, who created a long line to get the child to shore safely.
William Johnson Jr., 73 (left), died after attending the festival with his wife Zelda and her cousin Queen Welch, 76, who also died. Charles Houston Jr., 77 (right), a chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, also lost his life
People are seen being pulled to shore after the metal gangway collapsed
‘It was chaotic. It was horrible,’ Hall recalled.
Deceased bodies pulled from the water were covered in blankets, AP reported.
Ed Grovner was working as senior mate on one of the ferries taking people between the island and the mainland.
He described how the ferry pulled up to the dock a short time after the collapse and crew members saw orange life jackets bobbing in the water that had been tossed in to help people who had fallen.
Grovner said he and other crew members tried to help a man and a woman, with someone administering CPR, but they were already dead.
‘I couldn’t sleep last night,’ Grovner said. ‘My wife said I was sleeping, I was hollering in my sleep, saying, «I’m going to save you. I’m going to save you. I’m going to get you.»‘
He sighed deeply and added: ‘I wish I could’ve did more.’
In 2015 Sapelo Island residents sued McIntosh County and the state of Georgia in federal court, arguing they lacked basic services including facilities and resources for medical emergencies.
In a 2022 settlement, county officials agreed to build a helicopter pad on the island but that still hasn’t happened.
The ferry dock was rebuilt in 2021 after Georgia officials reached a settlement in the same lawsuit, in which island residents complained that state-operated ferry boats and docks failed to meet federal accessibility standards for people with disabilities.
The dock on Sapelo Island is some distance away from the mainland and takes 20 minutes to reach the area by boat
Grovner said he complained to one of the ferry captains about four months ago that the gangway to the ferry didn’t seem sturdy enough, but nothing happened. Rabon said he wasn’t aware of any complaints being made.
Watts said a private healthcare provider had planned to open a clinic in a county-owned building long used as Sapelo Island´s community center but the deal fell apart when county commissioners decided to lease the space to use as a restaurant.
None of the seven who died were island residents, Rabon said. And Watts, Hall and JR Grovner said they weren’t aware of any family members of island residents among the dead.
A team of investigators with expertise in engineering and accident reconstruction – with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation – was on the site Sunday to begin probing why the walkway failed.
Among those investigating was Houston Jr., one of the victims.
Atiyya Hassan, the granddaughter of McIntosh, the oldest victim that died in the tragedy, told WSB-TV: ‘I don’t think the shock has worn down yet.
‘But my grandmother was 93 years old. She lived a very full life,’ she said.
McIntosh was a retired school teacher that ‘was very active in her community,’ and even ‘got tens of thousands of people registered to vote,’ Hassan added.
Part of the collapsed gangway can be seen from offshore
The McIntosh County Office of the Sheriff was working on the emergency response late on Saturday night
Vanessa Carter Williams and Angela Mosley, the daughters of 75-year-old Carter, told Action News Jax: ‘She is loved by everyone who meets her and she was our rock. We will feel this TREMENDOUS loss for the rest of our lives.’
Meanwhile, Alaina Johnson, the daughter of William Johnson Jr., and Welch’s niece revealed that she almost lost her mother and father that dreadful day.
Her father, mother, Zelda, and her mom’s cousin, Welch, had set off for the festival that day eager to enjoy the festivities.
While Zelda managed to make it to shore, her husband and cousin did not survive.
‘When she turned around, she thought my dad was fine, and she was able to focus on the shore and swim back to where she could stand up and get out of the water. He wasn’t behind her when she got out,’ Alaina told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
DailyMail.com contacted McIntosh County for comment.
