Authorities said a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia's Sapelo Island, where crowds had gathered for a fall celebration by the island's tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.

Water rescues were underway Saturday afternoon after a dock collapsed on Sapelo Island in Coastal Georgia, according to reports.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources responded with local, state and federal agencies to the Marsh Landing Dock on the island, where at least 20 people went into the water when the collapse occurred. As of about 8 p.m., authorities said they believed seven people had died.