By Wealthy McKay

(Reuters) – At the very least seven folks have been killed after a part of a ship dock collapsed, sending at the very least 20 into the Atlantic waters off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia.

U.S. Coast Guard ships have been looking out Saturday night time for lacking folks.

The accident, which additionally induced a number of accidents, occurred throughout a celebration of Sapelo Island’s tiny Gullah-Geechee group of Black slave descendants, authorities stated.

A gangway that was crowded with folks ready for a ferryboat collapsed late Saturday afternoon on the Georgia barrier island about 60 miles (97 km) south of Savannah, stated Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Georgia Division of Pure Sources, which runs the ferry.

“We and multiple agencies are searching for survivors,” Jones stated.

Coast Guard helicopters and boats geared up with sonar instantly started search-and-rescue operations, officers stated. The reason for the accident was not instantly clear.

Sapelo Island is just reachable by boat and the state-run ferry takes about 20 minutes to succeed in its shores.

Folks have been marking Cultural Day, an annual pageant celebrating the island’s historic Black group of descendants of former enslaved folks, considered one of a number of surviving island communities from Georgia to North Carolina.

The folks referred to as Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia, are believed to have retained a lot of their African heritage due to their isolation.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved, including the entire Sapelo Island Community,” the Georgia DNR stated in a press release.