Witnesses Recall Chaos of Deadly Georgia Dock Collapse, from Lifejackets to a Human Chain: 'It Was Horrible'

Mar. 15, 2025

A scene following the Oct. 19, 2024, gangway collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island.Photo:Camden County Sheriff’s Office

Camden County Sheriff’s Office

Survivors and witnesses ofa ferry dock gangway collapse in Georgiathat killed at least seven people are opening up about the frantic scene that led to the deaths of at least seven people, according to reports.

“Everybody was fighting the water,” survivor Marsha Armstrong, 60, told theAtlanta Journal-Constitutionabout the Saturday, Oct. 19, incident on Sapelo Island. “I sprained every muscle in my body trying to fight that water to stay afloat and God sent an angel.”

Prior to the collapse, hundreds of people had gathered at a festival to celebrate the Gullah-Geechee community on the island. TheAssociated Pressreported that visitors were boarding a ferry to take them back to the mainland when the tragedy unfolded.

During apress conferenceon Sunday, Oct. 20, Captain Chris Hodge with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that 20 people fell into the water after the gangway collapsed. He said at the time that eight people were hospitalized, with at least six of them critically injured.

The McIntosh County Coroner’s Office confirmed with PEOPLE on Monday, Oct. 21, the identities and ages of the seven fatalities from the collapse: Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75, Cynthia Gibbs, 74, Charles L. Houston, 77, William Johnson Jr., 73, Carlotta McIntosh, 92, Isaiah Thomas, 79, and Queen Welch, 76.

Houston was a chaplain with the Georgia Department of Public Safety, the agency said in aFacebook poston Sunday, Oct. 20.

Charles Houston.Georgia Department of Public Safety

Georgia Department of Public Safety

“Dr. Houston served our agency faithfully since 1997, offering unwavering support during critical times and providing guidance to our Trooper and MCCD Schools’ cadets,” read the post. “A retired Methodist minister, he devoted his life to serving others across Georgia, particularly within the law enforcement community, and showing compassion to everyone he encountered.”

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McIntosh was a retired schoolteacher who lived in Jacksonville, ABC affiliateWSBreported. Her granddaughter, Atiyya Hassan, told the outlet that McIntosh lived a very full life.

After falling in the water, Armstrong screamed to her fiancé for help because she couldn’t swim, theAtlanta Journal-Constitutionreported.He managed to rush over and helped get her to land.

“It was like we were in a movie,” Armstrong, who recalled many bodies lying on the shore, later told the paper. “I never thought this would happen to us.”

Speaking with theJournal-Constitution,Young recalled seeing lifejackets being thrown into the water but some of them floated away.

A scene from the Oct. 19, 2024, gangway collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island.Camden County Sheriff’s Office

Reginald Hall, a resident of Sapelo Island, told the AP that he immediately went into the water and was handed a child to pass along to others as part of a human chain 60 yards to the shore.

“It was chaotic,” Hall recalled to the news agency. “It was horrible.”

“We’ve never experienced something like this on Sapelo,” Maurice Bailey, another island who went out to assist others, told theAtlanta Journal-Constitution. “The aftermath was controlled chaos. Everybody who was able to help, helped. Our training kicked in.”

Ferry worker Ed Grovner told the AP that his crew approached a man and a woman who had already died.

“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,’” Grovner later told the outlet.

TheGeorgia DNRsaid on Oct. 19 that it and other responding agencies deployed boats and helicopters as part of search and rescue operations.

PEOPLE reached out to the Georgia DNR on Oct. 21 for more information.

“We will continue to work with local, state and federal agencies on the response and investigation to determine the cause of the collapse," the department said in the update. “We are keeping all those involved, their families, and the entire Sapelo Island community in our thoughts and prayers.”

source: people.com