<p><img src="/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/10/20/NSMN/75767094007-gangway-close.jpg?crop=1919,1080,x0,y0&width=660&height=371&format=pjpg&auto=webp" width="100%" /><p>SAVANNAH, Ga. − Engineers and other experts were working Monday to determine what caused the <a href="/story/news/nation/2024/10/20/georgia-dock-collapse-sapelo-island-georgia/75763386007/">"catastrophic failure” on a gangway that collapsed into the water at a ferry dock</a> on a barrier island, killing seven people on Sapelo Island’s annual Cultural Day.</p><p>The harrowing events unfolded late Saturday as visitors were leaving the celebration. Walter Rabon, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the ferries and dock, said about 20 people fell into the water. Up to 40 could have been on the gangway at the time of the failure, he said. </p><p>Rabon credited bystanders for "their quick response and action saved additional lives." In the ensuing hours, Coast Guard helicopters and boats equipped with sonar conducted search-and-rescue operations.</p><p>About 700 people traveled to and from the island Saturday, about seven-times the normal traffic on the ferries that connect the island to the mainland. Asked if heavy use of the gangway could have contributed to the collapse, Rabon said it was "possible that extra stress” was a factor. </p><p>“Look, I'm sure anything that's manmade has limits,” Rabon said at a briefing Sunday. “I don't know what that is (for the gangway). I'm told that it should have carried the capacity that was there." </p><p>Sapelo Island, about 60 miles south of Savannah, is only reachable by boat. The state-run ferry between Meridian and the island takes about 20 minutes. The dock and gangway were constructed in 2021, Rabon said. His agency's Critical Incident Reconstruction Team and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating what caused the "catastrophic failure" of the gangway, he said.</p><p><strong>Deadly Georgia dock collapse:</strong><a href="/story/news/nation/2024/10/20/georgia-dock-collapse-sapelo-island-georgia/75763386007/">Incident blamed on unknown 'catastrophic failure'</a></p><h2><a></a> Festival-goer stunned by tragedy</h2><p>Jamie Arkins of Savannah made <a href="/story/news/local/2024/10/20/georgia-officials-probe-deadly-sapelo-island-dock-accident/75765699007/">her first visit to Sapelo</a> on Saturday for the festival. She was excited to see no one had their phones out and everyone was just enjoying the beautiful day, the color festival and each other.</p><p>“I plopped my chair in the middle of it and just took in the sights and the sounds, the smells, the conversations,” she said Sunday. She left for the mainland on a ferry at about 3 p.m., about an hour before disaster struck. </p><p>She noticed the water was moving swiftly under the gangway, and that a lot of people still needed to get off the island on the last round of ferries. She learned of the tragedy after returning to Savannah. </p><p>"It was the most perfect day – checking off a bucket list item, experiencing who this community is, to understand who they are, to try to help (because) they're at risk," she said. "And then to learn of this, (it) was like rubbing salt into a wound."</p><img width="100%" /><h2><a></a> Sapelo residents descended from slave trade</h2><p>No residents of the island were among the fatalities, Rabon said. The island is home to about 70 full-time residents of the Hog Hammock community, the only intact, documented community of Saltwater Geechee left in the world. They are part of the Gullah Geechee, direct descendants of West Africans brought over as slaves for their expertise in rice and indigo cultivation.</p><p>The Gullah and Geechee remain on coastlines and barrier islands running from North Carolina to Florida − but their future is imperiled despite the congressionally designated <a href="https://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/">Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor</a>.</p><p>Their forefathers and descendants have been on this land for nearly 300 years starting as slaves on the plantations. The plantations, stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, were confiscated by the Union Army during and after the Civil War. Union Gen. William Sherman and Savannah's Black preachers planned to distribute the land as a form of reparations to freed people in 40-acre plots, according to <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/special-field-15/">Special Field Order No. 15</a>. </p><p>Within a year, President Andrew Johnson abandoned the order and returned much of the land to the former plantation owners.</p><a href="/picture-gallery/news/2012/09/09/the-day-in-pictures/1410095/"><img width="100%" /></a><h2><a></a> Tourism, rising seas threaten communities</h2><p>Amid the rise in tourism and development along the Southeast coast, the Gullah Geechee face challenges from the "come heres,” or outsiders, who want to develop their ancestral lands, They also face the looming menace of sea-level rise, which threatens to submerge the barrier islands and displace millions of people.</p><p>Contributing: Zoe Nicholson</p></p>
SAVANNAH, Ga. − Engineers and other experts were working Monday to determine what caused the "catastrophic failure” on a gangway that collapsed into the water at a ferry dock on a barrier island, killing seven people on Sapelo Island’s annual Cultural Day.
The harrowing events unfolded late Saturday as visitors were leaving the celebration. Walter Rabon, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the ferries and dock, said about 20 people fell into the water. Up to 40 could have been on the gangway at the time of the failure, he said.
Rabon credited bystanders for "their quick response and action saved additional lives." In the ensuing hours, Coast Guard helicopters and boats equipped with sonar conducted search-and-rescue operations.
About 700 people traveled to and from the island Saturday, about seven-times the normal traffic on the ferries that connect the island to the mainland. Asked if heavy use of the gangway could have contributed to the collapse, Rabon said it was "possible that extra stress” was a factor.
“Look, I'm sure anything that's manmade has limits,” Rabon said at a briefing Sunday. “I don't know what that is (for the gangway). I'm told that it should have carried the capacity that was there."
Sapelo Island, about 60 miles south of Savannah, is only reachable by boat. The state-run ferry between Meridian and the island takes about 20 minutes. The dock and gangway were constructed in 2021, Rabon said. His agency's Critical Incident Reconstruction Team and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating what caused the "catastrophic failure" of the gangway, he said.
Deadly Georgia dock collapse:Incident blamed on unknown 'catastrophic failure'
Festival-goer stunned by tragedy
Jamie Arkins of Savannah made her first visit to Sapelo on Saturday for the festival. She was excited to see no one had their phones out and everyone was just enjoying the beautiful day, the color festival and each other.
“I plopped my chair in the middle of it and just took in the sights and the sounds, the smells, the conversations,” she said Sunday. She left for the mainland on a ferry at about 3 p.m., about an hour before disaster struck.
She noticed the water was moving swiftly under the gangway, and that a lot of people still needed to get off the island on the last round of ferries. She learned of the tragedy after returning to Savannah.
"It was the most perfect day – checking off a bucket list item, experiencing who this community is, to understand who they are, to try to help (because) they're at risk," she said. "And then to learn of this, (it) was like rubbing salt into a wound."
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Sapelo residents descended from slave trade
No residents of the island were among the fatalities, Rabon said. The island is home to about 70 full-time residents of the Hog Hammock community, the only intact, documented community of Saltwater Geechee left in the world. They are part of the Gullah Geechee, direct descendants of West Africans brought over as slaves for their expertise in rice and indigo cultivation.
The Gullah and Geechee remain on coastlines and barrier islands running from North Carolina to Florida − but their future is imperiled despite the congressionally designated Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.
Their forefathers and descendants have been on this land for nearly 300 years starting as slaves on the plantations. The plantations, stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, were confiscated by the Union Army during and after the Civil War. Union Gen. William Sherman and Savannah's Black preachers planned to distribute the land as a form of reparations to freed people in 40-acre plots, according to Special Field Order No. 15.
Within a year, President Andrew Johnson abandoned the order and returned much of the land to the former plantation owners.
![]()
Tourism, rising seas threaten communities
Amid the rise in tourism and development along the Southeast coast, the Gullah Geechee face challenges from the "come heres,” or outsiders, who want to develop their ancestral lands, They also face the looming menace of sea-level rise, which threatens to submerge the barrier islands and displace millions of people.
Contributing: Zoe Nicholson
