7 dead identified in Sapelo Island dock walkway collapse in Georgia during celebratory weekend
The seven people killed Saturday in a gangway collapse on a Georgia barrier island were all in their 70s, except for one woman in her 90s, the coroner said Sunday.
DARIEN, Ga. — The seven people killed Saturday in a gangway collapse on a Georgia barrier island were all in their 70s, except for one woman in her 90s, the coroner said Sunday.
An estimated 700 people were on Sapelo Island, about 72 miles south of Savannah, to celebrate the Gullah Geechee history and its unique blend of African culture and American life when the collapse took place.
McIntosh County Coroner Melvin Anderson identified the dead to NBC affiliate WSAV of Savannah as Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75, of Jacksonville, Florida; Cynthia Gibbs, 74, of Jacksonville; Charles L. Houston, 77, of Darien, Georgia; William Johnson Jr., 73, of Atlanta; Carlotta McIntosh, 93, of Jacksonville; Isaiah Thomas, 79, of Jacksonville; and Queen Welch, 76, of Atlanta.
Authorities said about 20 people fell in the water when the gangway leading to the island’s Marsh Ferry Dock gave way shortly before 4 p.m. as a ferry was docked, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Walter Rabon said at a news conference Sunday.
The crowds at Saturday’s celebration were enough that officials requested extra ferry trips to take visitors back to the mainland, Rabon said.
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