Five people, including four from the same family, were killed in a two-boat collision at the start of the Memorial Day weekend in Georgia.
The accident occurred about 10:30 on Saturday morning on the Wilmington River near Savannah. A good Samaritan called the Coast Guard. You can see its helicopter rescue video below.
Six people, including the family, were on one boat. Three, including Mark Stegall, 45, from Savannah, who was charged with driving under the influence, were on the other. One person, Robert Chauncey, 37, on his boat was killed. The boats were traveling in opposite directions at the time.
The deceased family members were Christopher Leffler, 51, and his wife, Lori, 50, and their sons, Zachary, 23, and Nathan, 17. Their daughter Katie, and her friend, who was along for the ride, survived. Christopher Leffler was a teacher at the nearby Calvary Day School, where Nathan was a rising senior.
One boat sank after the collision; the other was badly damaged. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and four were taken to the hospital, including one rescued by the Coast Guard helicopter. Three were missing; their bodies were found close to each other in 14-feet of water the next morning by officers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Investigators said they will try to reconstruct the crash to determine exactly what happened.
This crash is the second boating accident on the Wilmington River recently. A local businessman was killed there on May 5 when his boat hit an unlit channel marker near the Savannah Yacht Club. See the Coast Guard video here:
