Details are still very sketchy, but at least one person died in connection with a vehicle incident at Broken Bridges on Lake Hartwell Monday night.
That person, a white male of unknown age, was pulled from the lake and was outside the vehicle when discovered, said Sgt. 1st Class Chad Johnson of Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa.
It is not clear at this time whether that death will be classified as a wreck fatality or a drowning, Johnson said.
Johnson said witnesses on the South Carolina side of Broken Bridges, the name given to two fishing piers created from the old iron bridge that formerly connected Georgia and South Carolina on U.S. 123 after the center section was removed, reported seeing a vehicle break through the wooden barrier and crash into the lake late Monday night.
The vehicle entered the former bridge from the Stephens County Park side.
“They [witnesses] said it appeared to be a truck before it went under,” Johnson said.
Emergency personnel remain in the area searching for additional victims, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is using sonar, according to Johnson.
The search efforts are being hampered somewhat by extremely high water levels and some gates on Hartwell Dam remaining open to release water downstream, creating more of a current, Johnson said.
AccessWDUN is continuing to monitor this developing incident and will report updates as they are confirmed by officials.
