At least seven people were killed Saturday after part of an aluminum ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island during an event honoring Black slave descendants, authorities said.
The tragic collapse sent multiple people plummeting into the water around 4:30 p.m., killing seven people, including the chaplain of the state agency which operates the dock, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“Many of those who were on the ramp and many of the injured and dead are elderly,” said McIntosh County Commissioner Rogert Lotson, who added members of the McIntosh County Shouters were also among those who were swept into the water, The Current reported.
“It was a slow motion kind of thing. It was just going down. They were all going down in the water,” Bill Humphrey said, with his wife adding that “it was the worst thing.”
“I will never get that picture out of my head.”
One witness, who helped save people from the water after the collapse, told the outlet “there wasn’t a soul who wasn’t trying to help somebody,” with other witnesses saying that people were pulling victims out of the water and performing CPR as the ferry crew threw life preservers to those in danger.
At least 20 people were standing on the dock where passengers board the ferry plunged into the water when the gangway collapsed, including eight who were hospitalized, six of whom with critical injuries, said Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
The DNR manages the dock and ferry boats that transport passengers between the island and mainland.
Rescue crews from the US Coast Guard, the McIntosh County Fire Department, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are continuing to search the water, officials said, with helicopters and boats with side-scanning sonar used in the search.
While it remains unclear why the dock collapsed, Jones said there was no collision with a boat or anything else.
“The thing just collapsed. We don’t know why,” he told AP News, adding that a team of engineers and construction specialists are expected to be on site early Sunday morning to investigate why the walkway failed.
Three survivors in their 20s who got on the ferry said they heard the ramp collapse behind them and saw everyone who was standing on the dock fall into the water, including an elderly woman using a walker.
The group was visiting from Florida to attend Cultural Heritage Day when they saw four bodies, floating face-down in the water, pulled out to sea due to the low tide currents.
The fatal incident happened as crowds gathered on the island to celebrate its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants for Cultural Day, according to ABC News.
The annual event spotlights the island’s tiny community of Hogg Hummock, which is home to a few dozen Black residents and consists of dirt roads and modest homes founded by former slaves from the cotton plantation of Thomas Spalding, the outlet reported.
“It is an awful situation,” said Carolyn Rader, who was on the island for the festival, according to The Current.
“Never has anything happened like this.”
Lotson told Georgia public broadcasting that the dock was less than a year old, speculating that the aluminum ramp, and not the dock, was damaged.
“Even if the ferry hit the dock, you’d think the construction requirements would be that it could sustain that,” Lotson said.
Rachel Taylor posted on X that she had just left the island on the ferry when the pier collapsed.
“We stopped at the visitor’s center after arriving back to our vehicle and were told what happened,” she posted.
“At that time, they said 3 people had died. There were so many people there, constant packed ferries and shuttles of people. So grateful to be safe with my family and heartbroken.”
Taylor added that the current was “so strong” and the only island access is through the ferry, causing delays for first responders.
College students Laila LeRoy and Joyita Davis recounted giving insulin to an 85-year-old music performer who was in diabetic shock as people frantically tried to save drowning elderly people and children after the fatal Georgia ferry dock collapse.
“When we heard that, you know, people were still in the water, or, like, They (said) that people were drowning. That’s when more people started going down there, and they had already pulled some people ashore,” Leroy, who is double-majoring in Africana Studies and Environmental Science, told The Current.
“There was one girl that came that they I saw them pick up, and they carried her to the van to get try to get the heat on in the van. And she, she was young. I know she was young.”
The students said they aided in the rescue efforts, and provided insulin to 85-year-old Gullah Geechee performer Jack Evans.
“We gave him insulin. … (H)e started having pain on top of, like, the inside of his rib cage, but he could still breathe. He was mainly just in shock,” LeRoy said.
The McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office announced on Facebook that they set up a family reunification area at the Elm Grove Baptist Church for those searching for family members.
President Joe Biden and first Lady Jill Biden released a statement on X that they are “heartbroken” over the lives lost.
“What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation. Jill and I mourn those who lost their lives, and we pray for the injured and anyone still missing,” the president said.
Georgia Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock echoed the president’s sentiments in a post on X, expressing his deep sadness and sympathies.
“A tragic end to a joyous celebration. Praying for the loved ones of those we sadly lost and those still missing,” he wrote.
“The heart of every Georgian is with the Gullah Geechee community & the people of Sapelo Island tonight.”