At least seven people have been killed after part of a boat dock collapsed on a remote island nature reserve sending them into the Atlantic waters.
Numerous others were injured as about 20 people had crowded onto the gangway leading to an outer dock where passengers board the ferry, when it suddenly collapsed without warning into the water off Sapelo Island in Georgia.
Eight people were taken to hospital with at least six of them with critical injuries.
The gangway connected an outer dock where people board the ferry to another dock onshore.
Tyler Jones, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the ferry, said it was not yet known how the gangway failed and broke apart.
U.S. Coast Guard ships were still searching late on Saturday night for missing people.
Seven people have died after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Sapelo Island in Georgia (pictured before its collapse)
One of the dead was a chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Jones said.
‘The gangway has been secured on Sapelo Island and the incident is currently under investigation. There was no collision with a boat or anything else’, Jones said. ‘The thing just collapsed. We don’t know why.’
The dock was under pressure from crowds during Cultural Day, a celebration among the island’s tiny Gullah-Geechee community of black slave descendants,
Sapleo Island is about 60 miles south of Savannah and is only reachable from the mainland by a 20 minute ferry ride operated by Natural Resources.
Crews from US Coast Guard, the McIntosh County Fire Department, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and others were searching the water for survivors on Saturday evening.
Rescue crews were using boats equipped with side-scan sonar, and helicopters, to scour the Duplin River and surrounding waters.
A team of engineers and construction specialists plan to be on site early on Sunday to begin investigating why the walkway failed.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said he was heartbroken by the loss of life, and sent state resources to help with the search, rescue, and recovery.
‘As state and local first responders continue to work this active scene, we ask that all Georgians join us in praying for those lost, for those still in harm’s way, and for their families,’ he said.
President Joe Biden said federal officials were ready to provide any assistance needed.
‘What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation,’ Biden said in a statement.
‘Jill and I mourn those who lost their lives, and we pray for the injured and anyone still missing. We are also grateful to the first responders at the scene.’
‘Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved, including the entire Sapelo Island Community,’ the Georgia DNR said in a statement.
The sun rises over Sapelo Island, Georgia, a Gullah-Geechee community
The deadly collapse happened as island residents, family members and tourists gathered for Cultural Day, an annual fall event spotlighting the island’s tiny community of Hogg Hummock, home to a few dozen black residents.
The community of dirt roads and modest homes was founded after the Civil War by former slaves from the cotton plantation of Thomas Spalding.
Hogg Hummock’s slave descendants are extremely close, having been ‘bonded by family, bonded by history and bonded by struggle,’ said Roger Lotson, the only black member of the McIntosh County Board of Commissioners. His district includes Sapelo Island.
‘Everyone is family, and everyone knows each other,’ Lotson said. ‘In any tragedy, especially like this, they are all one. They’re all united. They all feel the same pain and the same hurt.’
Small communities descended from enslaved island populations in the South – known as Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia – are scattered along the coast from North Carolina to Florida.
Scholars say their separation from the mainland caused residents to retain much of their African heritage, from their unique dialect to skills and crafts such as cast-net fishing and weaving baskets.
In 1996, Hogg Hummock, also known as Hog Hammock, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the United States’ treasured historic sites.
But the community’s population has been shrinking for decades, and some families have sold their land to outsiders who built vacation homes.
Tax increases and zoning changes by the local government in McIntosh County have been met by protests and lawsuits by Hogg Hummock residents and landowners.
They have been battling for the past year to undo zoning changes approved by county commissioners in September 2023 that doubled the size of homes allowed in Hogg Hummock.
Residents say they fear larger homes will lead to tax increases that could force them to sell land their families have held for generations.
