At least 7 killed, several injured in dock collapse on Georgia's Sapelo Island

At least seven people were killed and several more injured Saturday afternoon after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia's Sapelo Island, authorities said.

At least 20 people went into the water when the gangway collapsed at about 4:30 p.m. local time on the Marsh Landing Dock, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the dock, said in a statement provided to CBS News.

At least seven people were believed to have been killed and "an unknown number" were hurt, the agency said.

Georgia DNR and several emergency agencies had helicopters and boats deployed with sonar to conduct search and rescue efforts, it said.

The incident happened as crowds gathered on the island for a celebration of its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.

Georgia DNR spokesperson Tyler Jones told the Associated Press he did not know what caused the gangway to collapse. The gangway connected an outer dock where people board the ferry to another dock onshore. The gangway has since been secured.

A team of engineers and construction specialists planned to be on site early Sunday to begin investigating why the walkway failed, he added.

"There was no collision" with a boat or anything else, Jones said. "The thing just collapsed. We don't know why."

Among the dead was a chaplain for the Georgia DNR, Jones said.

Sapelo Island is about 60 miles south of Savannah and is reachable from the mainland by boat.

"We are heartbroken to learn about the ferry dock walkway collapse on Georgia's Sapelo Island," President Biden said in a statement Saturday night. "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."

In a post to social media, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp wrote that he and his family were "heartbroken by today's tragedy on Sapelo Island. 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."

Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia also wrote in a social media post that Kemp had "sent state resources to aid in search, rescue, & recovery."

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.