Hundreds of people were gathered to celebrate the Gullah-Geechee community on Georgia’s Sapelo Island on Saturday, Oct. 19, when a ferry dock gangway collapsed, killing at least seven people and injuring several more.
Captain Chris Hodge with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources confirmed the death toll of the fall festival turned tragedy in a press conferencerevealing that a total of 20 people went into the water after the gangway collapsed.
Eight individuals were hospitalized after the incident, at least six of whom are critically injured, Hodge said. As of Saturday evening, search and rescue efforts were still underway through the combined effort of several emergency agencies.
A spokesperson for the Georgia DNR told the Associated Press that he did not know what caused the gangway — which connected the outer dock to another onshore — to collapse during the annual celebration.
“There was no collision” with anything, he told the outlet. “The thing just collapsed. We don’t know why.”
Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Chris Hodge speaks during press conference.
AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine
The spokesperson also noted that the gangway has since been secured, and said a team of specialists would begin investigating on Sunday morning.
He also shared that a chaplain for the Georgia DNR was among the seven killed in the collapse.
A spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp reacted to the news on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Saturday, stating that he and his family “are heartbroken by today’s tragedy on Sapelo Island.”
President Joe Biden also shared a statement about the tragedy, writing that he and First Lady Jill Biden are “heartbroken to learn” of the collapse and ready to provide help.
“What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation,” the statement read. “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. My team is in touch with state and local officials, and we stand ready to provide any and all assistance that would be helpful to the community.”
In a statement of her own, Vice President Kamala Harris said she is “praying” for those killed and injured in the collapse, and their loved ones. “Even in the face of this heartbreak, we will continue to celebrate and honor the history, culture, and resilience of the Gullah-Geechee community,” she said.
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Sapelo Island draws hundreds of visitors each fall for the annual festival celebrating the heritage of the Gullah-Geechee people, who are descendants of enslaved West African people, according to The New York Times. The Gullah-Geechee who live on the island — which only has a few dozen residents — are all descendants of slaves who were brought there in the early 1800s.
Griffin Lotson, mayor of nearby city Darien and a seventh-generation Gullah-Geechee, told the NYT that the day is “about all of the culture … from Africa, to the way that it was on the plantation, to the 21st century with the young folks and what they do.”
And, giving more insight into the small community of Gullah-Geechee on the island, he told CBS News“Everyone is family, and everyone knows each other.”
“In any tragedy, especially like this, they are all one,” he said. “They’re all united. They all feel the same pain and the same hurt.”
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