Victims of Georgia ferry dock collapse identified: 93-year-old great-great grandmother, Methodist minister among 7 dead
Posted on 10/21/2024
A 93-year-old woman and a beloved Methodist chaplain are among the victims who died when a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island on Saturday, killing seven and leaving eight hospitalized.
Officials have identified the seven victims, who were boarding a ferry after a festival honoring the island’s community of slave descendants when the gangway suddenly buckled and snapped, plunging at least 20 people into the water.
Witnesses saw an elderly woman with a walker go down and at least four bodies face-down, floating out to sea.
Passengers on the ferry dove to the rescue of victims floundering in the water. One told the Current that “there wasn’t a soul who wasn’t trying to help somebody.”
All of the victims were older than 70, according to the coroner of McIntosh County, who supplied their names to ABC 22 Savannah.
The deceased from the ferry dock disaster are:
Carlotta McIntosh, 93
Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75
Cynthia Gibbs, 74
Charles L. Houston, 77
William Johnson Jr., 73
Isaiah Thomas, 79
Queen Welch, 76
Sapelo Island — which is only accessible by boat — is home to one of Georgia’s Gullah-Geechee communities, who descended from black slaves forced to work on the island.
“I gained an ancestor today,” Atiyya NaDirah, great-grandaughter of Carlotta McIntosh, wrote on social media. “She was a 5th generation elder and the matriarch of our family. She leaves behind children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.”
Dr. Charles Houston, a Methodist minister of 40 years, had been serving as chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“He was a fine and good man,” Elizabeth Houston told the New York Post. “This is such a hard thing. I can hardly talk, I can’t even think right now.”
Officials still don’t know why the gangway collapsed. It was only three years old, had been rated to hold the number of people who were on it and was not struck by a vessel, said Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s still way too early to determine the cause,” Jones told The Post on Sunday.
Officials have identified the seven victims, who were boarding a ferry after a festival honoring the island’s community of slave descendants when the gangway suddenly buckled and snapped, plunging at least 20 people into the water.
Witnesses saw an elderly woman with a walker go down and at least four bodies face-down, floating out to sea.
Passengers on the ferry dove to the rescue of victims floundering in the water. One told the Current that “there wasn’t a soul who wasn’t trying to help somebody.”
All of the victims were older than 70, according to the coroner of McIntosh County, who supplied their names to ABC 22 Savannah.
The deceased from the ferry dock disaster are:
Carlotta McIntosh, 93
Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75
Cynthia Gibbs, 74
Charles L. Houston, 77
William Johnson Jr., 73
Isaiah Thomas, 79
Queen Welch, 76
Sapelo Island — which is only accessible by boat — is home to one of Georgia’s Gullah-Geechee communities, who descended from black slaves forced to work on the island.
“I gained an ancestor today,” Atiyya NaDirah, great-grandaughter of Carlotta McIntosh, wrote on social media. “She was a 5th generation elder and the matriarch of our family. She leaves behind children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.”
Dr. Charles Houston, a Methodist minister of 40 years, had been serving as chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“He was a fine and good man,” Elizabeth Houston told the New York Post. “This is such a hard thing. I can hardly talk, I can’t even think right now.”
Officials still don’t know why the gangway collapsed. It was only three years old, had been rated to hold the number of people who were on it and was not struck by a vessel, said Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s still way too early to determine the cause,” Jones told The Post on Sunday.
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