At least 7 dead after ferry dock walkway collapses on Georgia’s Sapelo Island

SAVANNAH, Georgia — At least seven people were killed Saturday after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, authorities said.

Several people were taken to the hospital and crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, McIntosh County Fire Department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and others were searching the water, according to spokesman Tyler Jones of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which manages the dock.

Jones said a walkway on the dock collapsed and sent people plunging into the water. It came as crowds gathered on the island to celebrate its small Gullah-Geechee community of descendants of black slaves.

“There have been seven confirmed deaths,” Jones said. “Several people were transported to area hospitals and we continue to search for individuals in the water.”

Jones said he didn’t know what caused the walkway to collapse, but authorities believe there were at least 20 people there at the time. The walkway connected an outer dock where people boarded the ferry to another dock on land.

Among the dead was a chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Jones said.

Sapelo Island is approximately 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Savannah and is accessible from the mainland by boat.

Cultural Day is an annual fall event highlighting the small community of Hogg Hummock, home to a few dozen black residents. The community of dirt roads and modest homes was founded by former slaves on Thomas Spalding’s cotton plantation.

Small communities from the enslaved island populations of the South – known as the Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia – are scattered along the coast from North Carolina to Florida. Researchers say their separation from the continent allowed locals to retain much of their African heritage, from their unique dialect to skills and crafts such as net fishing and basket weaving.