By Pat Donahue and Lewis Levine
Special for the Herald
DARIEN – As many as 40 people may have been on a gangway leading to a boat dock before it collapsed Oct. 19, resulting in seven deaths, a state official said at a press conference Oct. 20.
Walter Rabon, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said the investigation into Saturday’s gangway collapse at Sapelo Island is ongoing. Approximately 20 people were sent into the water at Marsh Landing Dock when the gangway, which was completed in November 2021, gave way.
Rabon said at a Sunday news conference there was a “catastrophic failure of the gangway.”
“I can assure you the Department of Natural Resources critical incident reconstruction team will be working tirelessly with engineers and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to gather and preserve evidence and to interview witnesses,” he said.
The gangway has been removed and taken to a secure location, where the DNR’s critical incident reconstruction team and the GBI will inspect it, DNR public information officer Tyler Jones said Oct. 22.
All those on the dock have been accounted for, Rabon said. All seven who perished were visitors to the annual Cultural Day on Sapelo Island, a celebration of the island’s Gullah-Geechee heritage. Cultural Day, put on by the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, is the organization’s biggest event in celebrating the Gullah-Geechee heritage and community.
The event drew hundreds of visitors to the island, Rabon said.
“It showed no damage, topside and bottom side,” he said.
Rabon said the number of people on the gangway shouldn’t have caused the collapse.
“It should have been able to support a much larger number,” he said.
The Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society (SICARS) posted on its Facebook page that the organization was “heartbroken over the gangway collapse that took place at Marsh Landing Dock on Sapelo Island. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones who lost their lives and who were injured. The Sapelo Island community is grateful for the outpouring of love and support and we ask that you join us in praying for the families of those who were impacted by this tragedy.”
After the gangway collapsed, DNR staff, McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office personnel and others dove into the water to try to rescue victims.
“Their quick response and action saved additional lives,” Rabon said.
The ferry Annemarie was tied up at the dock, awaiting passengers, and did not factor into the gangway’s collapse, Rabon said.
“It’s my understanding the gangway collapsed in the middle,” he said. “I can’t tell you at this point in time what happened.”
The DNR operates a state park on Sapelo Island and Rabon said the traffic for the ferry on a typical day is about 100 people. The DNR was running two boats throughout the day to accommodate the several hundred people on the island Saturday.
The dock was built in 2021, Jones said, and there was an eight-foot-wide gangway to the floating dock. The Georgia coast has substantial tidal amplitudes, he added, between six and nine feet every day.
Some of the victims’ families have retained legal counsel in the wake of the gangway collapse.
State Speaker of the House Jon Burns (R-Newington) said hearts across the state are going to those families who lost loved ones in Saturday’s collapse.
“We are resilient people in Georgia,” Speaker Burns said. “We will all pull together.”
Liberty County emergency personnel also were involved in the rescue and recovery efforts.
Burns was joined by state Rep. Buddy DeLoach, whose district includes Sapelo Island, and state Rep. Al Williams, whose district once covered Sapelo Island. Williams said the fatalities and those injured included friends of his, and he recalled going to church on the island when he was 5 years old.
“I do know this about Sapelo and this part of Georgia – these are people of great faith and through that faith, it will bring us through,” he said. “We are a people that believe God does not make mistakes. And we believe there is something good that will come out of us.”
[Information from Dave Williams from the Capitol Beat News Service also was used in this report.]
