Emergency crews responded to vehicle in Hilton Head lagoon. What we know
Editor’s note: The latest version of this story can be found here.
Emergency crews responded to the Sea Pines community Wednesday afternoon after a car was found in a body of water next to South Beach Lagoon Road.
A Beaufort County Coroner’s Office van, a South Carolina Highway Patrol car and a Sea Pines Security vehicle were on the scene of the incident Wednesday afternoon. Just before 2 p.m., the security vehicle and cones blocked access to South Beach Lagoon Road.
Down the road, a vehicle, covered in a tarp, appeared to have been pulled out from the water by authorities. The status of the car’s driver was not immediately clear. It is also unknown if the vehicle had any passengers.
Beaufort County deputies initially responded to the scene, said spokesperson Robert Herlong, but the investigation was turned over to the South Carolina Highway Patrol because of the “severity” of the incident. The scene was cleared by the time a reporter returned around 4 p.m.
A passing cyclist commented that a similar incident had occurred just down the street nearly three years ago.
On May 1, 2023, two passengers, Michael Stephen Weingarten, 83, and Neil Hilsen, 81, were killed after a vehicle overturned into a lagoon off Beach Lagoon Road. The car rolled down a “steep slope of land” into the lagoon, according to previous reporting from The Island Packet.
The wife of one of the victims sued the Sea Pines Resort for wrongful death because of alleged hazardous driving conditions, according to previous reporting.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published April 1, 2026 at 2:06 PM.
