Seven people died when part of a ferry dock collapsed in a remote island nature reserve and many others were injured.
About 20 people were on a walkway to an outside dock where passengers board the ferry when it crashed into the water off Sapelo Island in Georgia.
Tyler Jones, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which operates the ferry, said it is not yet known how the footbridge collapsed.
Seven people died after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Sapelo Island in Georgia (pictured before its collapse)
One of the dead was a GDNR chaplain, Jones said.
The pier was under pressure from crowds during Cultural Day, a celebration among the island’s small Gullah-Geechee community of descendants of black slaves.
Sapleo Island is about 60 miles south of Savannah and can be reached by boat from the mainland.
The U.S. Coast Guard, McIntosh County Fire Department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and others are searching for survivors.
Rescuers are using boats equipped with side-scan sonar and helicopters to search the Duplin River and surrounding waters.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said he was heartbroken by the loss of life.
“As state and local first responders continue to work this active scene, we ask that all Georgians join us in praying for those lost, those still in danger, and their families,” he said.
More to come.