Sapelo Island, Ga.

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    Dock Collapse in Georgia Strikes Sapelo Island Community Fighting for Its Culture

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    The deaths of seven people on Sapelo Island have brought to the fore longstanding frustrations among its Gullah Geechee community.The dozens of descendants of enslaved people who form the backbone of the Gullah Geechee community on Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia, have fought for years to protect their homes and traditions from the erosion of time and development.The deadly collapse on Saturday of a dockside gangway not only jolted the community into a deep grief but also brought to the fore longstanding frustrations over the treatment of residents and the state of the island’s infrastructure. Seven people were killed as they waited for a ferry back to the mainland after taking part in an annual cultural celebration on the island.“We are on Sapelo fighting for our survival,” said Reginald Hall, 59, who was among a group of residents who confronted officials during a weekend news conference to demand answers on the collapse of the dock.On Monday, state officials said they had removed the gangway as part of an investigation into its “catastrophic structural failure,” but they provided no new details on the cause of the collapse.Some residents questioned whether Georgia officials, who have responsibility for most of the island, had taken adequate precautions to prepare the dock for the influx of hundreds of visitors for the festivities. Officials said they had established additional ferry runs but did not rule out the possibility that the increased traffic contributed to the collapse.The collapse of the gangway set off a frenetic rescue effort.Lewis M. Levine/Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Crack, a Shift, Then Screams: Witnesses Describe Georgia Dock Collapse That Killed 7

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      Investigators have begun looking for reasons behind the failure at a ferry dock on Sapelo Island, the site of a festival celebrating the heritage of descendants of enslaved people. They had come to Sapelo Island, just off the curve of the Georgia coast, for a celebration of resilience, of a people, of a culture that for generations had been so fragile but could not be broken.The smell of smoked mullet drifted. Vendors sold red peas and rice. Performers onstage presented poetry and sang African spirituals.By midafternoon on Saturday, dozens readied for the trip back to the mainland, a route beginning with a ferry known as the Annemarie waiting at the end of the floating dock in the marsh. But then, a strange cracking noise. The walkway to the dock suddenly shifted. Then it collapsed.“Everyone’s falling into the water, and you’re hearing screams,” said Michael Wood, 43, who had been waiting in line to board.On Sunday, members of the tight-knit Gullah Geechee community, descendants of formerly enslaved people in the Southeast, who had gathered for a festival celebrating their heritage, mourned four women and three men, all of them older than 70, who were killed. And officials began investigating how a short journey to the only way off the Georgia island could have led to such tragedy.“The initial findings of our investigation at this point showed a catastrophic failure of the gangway, causing it to collapse,” said Walter Rabon, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, adding that investigators and engineers will be gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses. Three people were also injured and remain hospitalized in critical condition. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      At Least 7 Dead After Ferry Dock Collapses on Sapelo Island, Georgia

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      The circumstances of the accident in Sapelo Island, south of Savannah, were not immediately clear.At least seven people were killed on Saturday when the gangway of a ferry dock collapsed on an island in Georgia, forcing at least 20 people into the water, the authorities said.The deaths on Sapelo Island were confirmed by Mark Deverger, the volunteer fire chief for McIntosh County. He said he did not know the specifics of what had happened. The island is about 70 miles by road south of Savannah, Ga.The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which manages the island and operates the ferry service, said in a statement that at least 20 people went into the water when the gangway collapsed.A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guardin Savannah said that he could not confirm how many people had been injured or killed in the accident.The McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook that it was “working an active situation on Sapelo Island,” and that multiple agencies were responding. A fire department in nearby Glynn County said that emergency crews had responded around 4:30 p.m.J.R. Grovner, who owns Sapelo Island Tours, a company that uses the dock, was on the scene shortly after the gangway collapsed. As he arrived at the dock, he said, he saw bodies floating in the Duplin River.“Most of the bodies were already on the edge of the river, and people were pulling them up,” Mr. Grovner said by phone on Saturday night, adding that several of the victims appeared to be elderly. He said he had helped to check some of their pulses as people at the scene administered C.P.R.“I’ve been on Sapelo for 44 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Mr. Grovner said. A majority of the people visiting the island on Saturday were attending an annual Cultural Day festival, Mr. Grovner said.The festival is organized by the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, a nonprofit that helps to preserve the heritage of the Gullah Geechee people who live along the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia and northern Florida. The Gullah Geechee are descendants of enslaved West African people who were brought to the southeastern United States more than two centuries ago.The society could not immediately be reached for comment late Saturday.This is a developing story. More