On Sapelo Island in Georgia, where the small Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave ancestors had congregated for a fall celebration, authorities stated that a portion of a ferry pier fell Saturday, killing at least seven people.
Natural Resources spokeswoman Tyler Jones said that workers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the McIntosh County Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, and others were scouring the water and that eight people were taken to hospitals, at least six of whom had significant injuries.
The organization runs the ferry boats and docks that carry passengers from the island to the mainland. According to Jones, a gangway at the dock collapsed, pushing people into the water.
According to him, a group of engineers and construction experts would arrive on the scene early on Sunday to start looking into the cause of the walkway failure.
According to Jones, “there was no collision” with a boat or anything else. “The thing just collapsed. We don’t know why.”
According to a Department of Natural Resources release, the search was conducted using helicopters and boats equipped with side-scanning sonar. According to Jones, one of the deceased was a state agency chaplain.
He claimed that when the gangway collapsed, there were at least 20 people on it. An outer dock where passengers board the ferry was joined to another onshore dock by the gangway.
Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia stated that the tragedy on Sapelo Island today had left him and his family “heartbroken.”
“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,” Kemp stated on X.
According to President Joe Biden, federal representatives were prepared to offer whatever support that could be required.
“What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation,” Biden stated. “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.”
Sapelo Island is accessible by boat from the mainland and is located roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Savannah.
As islanders, relatives, and visitors gathered for Cultural Day—an annual fall festival that highlights the island’s small village of Hogg Hummock, which is home to a few dozen Black residents—the fatal collapse occurred.
Former slaves from Thomas Spalding’s cotton estate established the neighborhood of dirt roads and simple houses following the Civil War.
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Roger Lotson, the sole Black member of the McIntosh County Board of Commissioners, stated that the slave descendants of Hogg Hummock are very close, having been “bonded by family, bonded by history, and bonded by struggle.” The island of Sapelo is in his district.
“Everyone is family, and everyone knows each other,” Lotson stated. “In any tragedy, especially like this, they are all one. They’re all united. They all feel the same pain and the same hurt.”
