A “tragedy”. At least seven people died this Saturday, October 19, when a walkway collapsed on a pier where a crowd was gathering for celebrations on Sapelo Island in Georgia, in the southeastern United States, according to local authorities.
“At least twenty people fell into the water when the walkway collapsed. Currently, the number of victims is seven and the number of injuries is not yet known,” the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said in a statement.
The crowd gathered at the pier where the ferries dock that connect this island, very close to the Atlantic coast, with the continent for an event by the small Gullah Geechee community, descendants of Africans reduced to slavery on coastal plantations in the South. . He is from the United States.
“What should have been a joyful celebration of Gullah Geechee culture and history turned into a tragedy,” lamented US President Joe Biden, quoted in a White House press release.
Thanking rescuers, he said his team would remain in contact with local authorities and would be “ready to provide any necessary assistance.”
Ongoing investigation
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the X accident, adding that emergency services were still at the scene. An investigation is underway, local authorities said.
Isolated on confetti of dirt and mangroves scattered along the ocean, the ancestors of the Gullah Geechee depended on the resources of land and sea. They created their own culture, nourished by their origins, and even a Creole language.
Source: BFM TV
