SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Authorities said at least seven people were killed Saturday when part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia's Sapelo Island, where crowds gathered for a fall celebration of the island's tiny Gullah-Geechee community of black slave descendants had.

Several people were taken to hospitals and crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, McIntosh County Fire Department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and others searched the water, according to Natural Resources spokesman Tyler Jones. The agency operates the port and the ferries that transport people between the island and the mainland.

Jones said a gangway at the dock collapsed, causing people to fall into the water.

“There have been seven deaths confirmed,” Jones said. “Several people were transported to area hospitals and we continue to search for people in the water.”

Helicopters and boats with side-scanning sonar were used in the search, according to a statement from the Ministry of Natural Resources. The cause of the collapse is under investigation.

A state agency chaplain was among the dead, Jones said.

He said at least 20 people were on the gangway when it collapsed. The gangway connected an outside jetty, where people board the ferry, with another jetty on land.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he and his family were “heartbroken by today’s tragedy on Sapelo Island.”

“As state and local first responders continue to work this active scene, we ask all Georgians to join us in praying for those lost, those still in danger, and their families,” Kemp said on the social platform X.

Sapelo Island is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Savannah and is accessible by boat from the mainland.

The deadly collapse occurred as island residents, family members and tourists gathered for Culture Day, an annual fall event that highlights the island's small community of Hogg Hummock, home to a few dozen black residents. The community of dirt roads and modest homes was founded after the Civil War by former slaves from Thomas Spalding's cotton plantation.

Hogg Hummock's slave descendants are very close because they are “connected by family, by history and by struggle,” said Roger Lotson, the only Black member of the McIntosh County Board of Commissioners. His district includes the island of Sapelo.

“Everyone is family and everyone knows everyone,” Lotson said. “In every tragedy, especially this one, they are all one. They are all united. They all feel the same pain and pain.”

Small communities descended from the enslaved island population to the south – known as Gullahor Geechee in Georgia – are scattered along the coast from North Carolina to Florida. Scientists say separation from the mainland has resulted in residents retaining much of their African heritage, from their unique dialect to skills and crafts such as net fishing and basket weaving.

In 1996, Hogg Hummock, also known as Hog Hammock, was installed on the site National Register of Historic Placesthe official list of the United States' most valuable historic sites.

But the community's population has been shrinking for decades, and some families have sold their land to outsiders who built vacation homes there.

Tax increases and zoning changes by local government in McIntosh County have been met with protests and lawsuits from Hogg Hummock residents and property owners. They have been fighting to reverse the situation for a year Zone changes In September 2023, county officials approved a law doubling the size of homes allowed in Hogg Hummock.

Residents worry that larger homes could lead to tax increases and force them to sell land their families have owned for generations.