Boat collision in the Wilmington River near Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Five people are dead after a boat collision in the Wilmington River near Savannah, Georgia on Saturday.

According to CNN, Georgia DNR said three bodies were recovered Sunday after two people were found following the crash on Saturday.

The Coast Guard says a good Samaritan notified Coast Guard Sector Charleston at 10:42 a.m., via VHF-FM channel 16, stating two recreational boats collided and people were in the water.

The two boats were traveling in opposite directions when they crashed, said Mark McKinnon, a spokesperson for the law enforcement division of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources.

One of the two boats was carrying six passengers while the second carried three, McKinnon said. The other four people involved in the crash suffered minor injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital in Savannah.

The collision is under investigation.



SAVANNAH, Ga. - The death toll in a Saturday boat crash is up to five people after the U.S. Coast Guard recovered the bodies of three missing men on Sunday.

The Coast Guard reported two recreational boats collided on the Wilmington River on Saturday morning. Authorities told The Savannah Morning News one boat had six people aboard and the other was carrying three people.

The Coast Guard took four injured people to a local hospital on Saturday and two were reported dead. Three others, including a 37-year-old white male and two "early 20-year-old white males," were reportedly recovered on Sunday morning.

At least four other passengers had minor injuries and one other person was reported airlifted by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

A Chatham Emergency Services spokesperson who released details of the collision said a search was underway Saturday afternoon for the missing.

The incident is the second involving a boat and serious injuries on the Wilmington River this month. A local businessman was killed May 5 when a boat he was aboard struck an unlit channel marker near the Savannah Yacht Club and he was struck on the head by an unknown object, authorities said.





SAVANNAH, Ga. - Five people are dead and four more injured after a boat collision in Georgia on Saturday morning, according to authorities, who said Sunday they recovered three bodies from the Wilmington River.

Mark McKinnon, public affairs officer for Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Law Enforcement Division, told PEOPLE that Georgia game wardens responded to a boating incident near the Oatland Island Wildlife Center docks where Richardson Creek and the Wilmington River meet in Chatham County.

Witnesses told authorities two center console boats carrying nine combined passengers — six in one vessel and three in the other — crashed into each other head on and traveling in opposite directions. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and three were initially missing, McKinnon said.

The bodies were later recovered by divers with the Chatham County Marine Patrol.

"The three missing victims were recovered this morning, bringing the number of deceased to five," McKinnon confirmed in a statement. "The other four passengers suffered various injuries and were transported to Memorial Health Medical Center in Savannah."

The deceased individuals have been identified as Christopher David Leffler, age 51, of Savannah; Lori Lynn Leffler, age 50, of Savannah; Zachary James Leffler, age 23, of Alpharetta; Nathan Leffler, age 17, of Savannah; and Robert Steven Chauncey, age 37, of Savannah.

Game wardens, Chatham County Marine Patrol, Savannah Fire, Chatham Emergency Services, and the United States Coast Guard immediately began searching for the missing victims using sector scan sonar and divers, recovering the last body early Sunday morning.

The bodies were found in roughly 14 ft. of water in close proximity to each other, according to McKinnon. Two helicopters were also deployed to aid in the search.

McKinnon said the cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation by Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Critical Incident Reconstruction Team. Georgia DNR anticipates the investigation will take six to eight weeks.