A video from the scene captured the chaotic and fearful moments when a pier in Georgia collapsed, causing many people to fall into the water.
Footage shared by US media on October 22 shows people struggling in the water after the pier on Sapelo Island collapsed on the afternoon of October 19. They were trying to swim to shore or cling to anything they could, as life jackets were thrown down to them.
More than a dozen people managed to hold on to the remaining part of the pier, while others onshore frantically tried to pull them up. In the video, terrified screams from women could be heard, with some shouting, "Please, God!" and "Oh my God, where is my aunt?"
Part of the collapsed pier at the Marsh Landing ferry terminal on Sapelo Island (McIntosh County, Georgia, USA) was still visible on Sunday (October 20).
Sapelo Island is located off the southeastern coast of the United States and is connected to the mainland by water. Each ferry ride between the island and the mainland takes about 20 minutes. The 24-meter metal pier collapsed as a crowd gathered on it, waiting for a ferry to return to the mainland. At least seven elderly Black people, aged between 73 and 93, were killed, and several others were seriously injured, with three currently in critical condition.
The incident occurred during a festival on Sapelo Island that was honoring the Gullah-Geechee community, descendants of African people who had been enslaved on plantations in the southern United States.
Regina Brinson, a survivor of the tragedy, said that her uncle, Isaiah Thomas, 79, and family friend Carlotta McIntosh, 93, were among those who died.
"I was standing in the middle of the pier when I heard a crack," Brinson said. "Carlotta fell straight into the water. And then we were all in the water. The current pushed about 10 of us away from the ferry."
While in the water, she saw her uncle and told him to grab her hand. "He grabbed both my hand and my shirt, pulling me under. I thought I was going to die, so I finally had to let him go," Brinson said, crying. "I came back up to the surface and saw his face. I was in shock, thinking, 'Oh my God, what have I done?' He drifted past me. It took all my strength to swim back to shore."
Regina Brinson (center) cried during a press conference about the pier collapse in Jacksonville, Florida on October 22
The pier had been installed in November 2021 and was inspected last December. Survivors on October 22 called for officials to investigate the tragedy.
"We want a federal investigation," said attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the victims' families.