The oldest of seven victims killed in a dock gangway collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island Saturday was a retired special education teacher, her granddaughter told News4JAX.

The collapse of this dock gangway on Sapelo Island, Georgia is sending shockwaves through the Southeastern United States and especially here in Jacksonville.

The gangway collapsed Saturday as festival goes prepared to board a ferry amid Sapelo Island's annual Cultural Day, officials say.

Georgia authorities say they are investigating the “catastrophic failure” of a dock gangway that collapsed and killed seven people on Sapelo Island

At least seven people are dead after the Sapelo Island ferry dock collapsed in Georgia on Saturday afternoon, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

ATLANTA − At least seven people were killed after part of a boat dock collapsed, sending at least 20 into the Atlantic waters off the coast of Georgia on Saturday. U.S. Coast Guard ships were searching through the night for missing people.

Investigators have begun looking for reasons behind the failure at a ferry dock on Sapelo Island, the site of a festival celebrating the heritage of descendants of enslaved people.

The gangway, installed in 2021, gave way as an estimated 700 people visited largely unspoiled Sapelo Island, about 60 miles south of Savannah and 7 miles offshore.