CNN —Emotional accounts from relatives of the victims and survivors of the partial collapse of a boat dock gangway on Georgia’s Sapelo Island and a newly released video of the frantic rescue efforts paint a dramatic picture of Saturday’s incident.
The seven victims were among the dozens of people who traveled to Sapelo Island last weekend to celebrate the Gullah-Geechee, a community of descendants of Africans who were enslaved on coastal plantations in the South.
Yvette Jackson, one of the seniors on a family trip visiting Sapelo Island, barely made it across the gangway before the collapse and said at Tuesday’s news conference, “It was the most horrific thing I have ever experienced.”A portion of the gangway that collapsed Saturday afternoon remains visible on Sapelo Island in McIntosh County, Georgia, on October 20, 2024.
“I just stood there, looking down in that water and saw all those people.”“And then it hit me, Regina, Regina, where’s Regina?
“Nobody knows what it’s like to go under the water and let somebody help you out and bring you out.
Persons:
Ben Crump, ” Crump, “, Natalie Jackson, ’ ” Crump, Yvette Jackson, Lewis M, Levine, ” Katrena Alexander, Jackson’s, where’s Regina, ” Alexander, Regina Brinson, Brinson, Carlotta McIntosh, Isaiah Thomas, Miss Carlotta, ” Brinson, ”, Thomas, hadn’t, ” Pearl Davis, CNN’s Nick Valencia
Organizations:
CNN, Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Locations:
Jacksonville , Florida, Georgia, Sapelo, McIntosh County , Georgia, Regina
![Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Unknown.Jpeg](/find/mix/0?q="Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Unknown.Jpeg"){kind=link}
![Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg](/find/mix/0?q="Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg"){kind=link}