SAPELO ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC/Gray News) – The Meridian Dock in McIntosh County, Georgia, is a place where people can usually take a ferry to go to Sapelo Island.
It’s usually pretty still and pretty quiet. But the dock was a completely different scene Saturday night.
People attending the 2024 Cultural Day on Sapelo Island recall the day starting as a joyous occasion.
“It was just sensational,” said vendor Willie Anderson Jr.
Until it wasn’t. Some call it an unthinkable tragedy.
City of Darien Mayor Protem Griffin Lotson was in the middle of a conversation when he got word that something was wrong.
“Everybody stopped laughing, he said, ‘No something happened. There’s people in the water,’” said Lotson.
The Department of Natural Resources says around 20 people fell into the water when the Marsh Landing Dock gangway collapsed.
Seven people died from that collapse, six went to the hospital with serious injuries, and two were life-flighted.