GhLinks Media
Georgia authorities say they are investigating the “catastrophic failure” of a dock gangway that collapsed and killed seven people on Sapelo Island.
Multiple people were taken to hospitals, and crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, the McIntosh County Fire Department, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and others were searching the water, according to spokesperson Tyler Jones of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the dock.
Jones said a gangway at the dock collapsed and sent people plunging into the water.
It happened as crowds gathered on the island for a celebration of its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.
“There have been seven fatalities confirmed,” Jones said on Saturday. “There have been multiple people transported to area hospitals, and we are continuing to search the water for individuals.”
On Sunday, officials identified the victims as:
- 75-year-old Jacqueline Crews Carter of Jacksonville
- 74-year-old Cynthia Gibbs of Jacksonville
- 77-year-old Charles L. Houston of Darien
- 73-year-old William Johnson Jr. of Atlanta
- 93-year-old Carlotta McIntosh of Jacksonville
- 79-year-old Isaiah Thomas of Jacksonville
- 76-year-old Queen Welch, of Atlanta
What caused the Sapelo Island dock to collapse?
“It is a structural failure. There should be very, very little maintenance to an aluminum gangway like that, but we’ll see what the investigation unfolds,” Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Walter Rabon said at a news conference Sunday.
The gangway was installed in 2021, authorities said.
Seven people were killed in the collapse Saturday, and Rabon said three remained hospitalized in critical condition Sunday.
Rabon said “upwards of 40 people” were on the gangway when it collapsed, and at least 20 fell into the water. Rabon said none of the people killed were residents of the island.
Among the dead was a chaplain for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Jones said.
Sapelo Island is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Savannah and is reachable from the mainland by boat.
