UPDATE: Tybee Island to consider $20K proposal to remove vehicles stuck in marsh

State and local officials are trying to determine how to remove a collection of vehicles from a Tybee Island marsh as all their recovery options keep getting stuck.

It started Friday afternoon with a city of Tybee beach patrol officer’s all-terrain vehicle, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said. Then, one by one, a pickup truck and two backhoes meant to pull out the sunken vehicle also became bogged down.

Two of the vehicles, which are city property, are still stuck on the north end of Tybee Island in an area under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Coastal Marshlands Protection Act, according to DNR officials. Early Saturday morning, a Chatham County excavator was able to remove one of the backhoes.

The ATV has been removed since then. City manager Shawn Gillen said the city of Tybee is planning to hire a private firm to use a barge and a crane to remove the other backhoe and the pickup truck. The city council on Wednesday is scheduled to discuss a proposal that would cost Tybee Island nearly $20,000.

A pickup truck was brought in to remove the sunken ATV, but that became stuck, too.

According to city officials, the police officer was on duty when the ATV became stuck. The initial recovery process was made difficult by darkness and high tides.

The remaining vehicles have been "secured against environmental contamination" while Tybee Island works with the Coastal Resources division to remove the vehicles, Gillen said. The city has offered to restore the marsh afterward and is conducting its own investigation of the incident.