Survivors of deadly collapse at Georgia dock seek state’s help for funerals, counseling
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Survivors of one fatal walkway collapse A state-run ferry port on a Georgia island said Thursday that the government should help them pay for funerals for the seven people who died, as well as medical bills and mental health care for those still alive.
Lawmakers from the Georgian Senate’s Urban Affairs Committee heard from four people who were at the wharf on Sapelo Island on Oct. 19 when a metal gangplank broke in the middle, sending dozens of people plunging into the water.
Among them was Yvonne Brockington of Jacksonville, Florida, who had arranged for more than fifty members of her club for older adults to visit the island during an annual cultural festival hosted by the small Gullah-Geechee community of descendants of black slaves .
Brockington said she was waiting with others to board an afternoon ferry from the island when she suddenly felt as if she were in a falling elevator. When she suddenly stopped, she felt both her legs break. As bystanders used a rope to pull Brockington to safety, four members of her club were killed.
“The psychological effect, I don’t know if it will ever go away, but we definitely need help,” Brockington told lawmakers via video conference from her hospital bed. “It shouldn’t have happened. The state of Georgia owes us more than just resources. They owe us an apology, and they need to make sure this never happens again.”
Other survivors told the meeting in Atlanta that the traumatic day still haunts them.
Darrel Jenkinswho pulled two people out of the water but never learned whether they lived or died, says he still has nightmares and wonders, “What about the people who might not have lived? Could I have done more?”
Regina Brinson said her 79-year-old uncle, Isaiah Thomas, drowned after she had to pull his grabbing fingers out of her shirt to avoid being dragged underwater herself.
“We need mental health services, financial support and resources to ensure survivors and their families have what they need to recover,” Brinson said.
The port on Sapelo Island is operated by the state Department of Natural Resources, which operates the daily ferry service to and from the mainland.
The agency says about 700 people visited Oct. 19 for Cultural Day, a celebration of the small Hogg Hummock community, founded by emancipated slaves after the Civil War. Hogg Hummock is one of the few Gullah-Geechee communities left in the South, where slaves working on isolated island plantations retained much of their African heritage.
Mawuli Davis, an attorney for some of the people injured in the collapse, told lawmakers that his clients have been contacted by state investigators for interviews but not by anyone offering assistance.
Lawmakers said they agree the state must do more to help victims. But how much influence they will have is unclear: The Senate Urban Affairs Committee consists of six Democrats, while Republicans control the Legislature and the governor’s office.
“The state has responsibility,” said Sen. Donzella James, an Atlanta Democrat who chairs the committee. “We’re holding this hearing to find out exactly what they’re responsible for.”
The Department of Natural Resources, with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, is investigating what caused the collapse. But victims’ lawyers have said they don’t trust the state agency to investigate itself, and last week Attorney General Chris Carr said he had hired an engineering firm to conduct an investigation. independent, parallel research.
No one from the Ministry of Natural Resources spoke before the committee Thursday.
Last weekend, the department offered free counseling services to residents of Sapelo Island and mainland McIntosh County. It said in a news release that “ongoing mental health resources will be provided to those in need” and that Natural Resources Commissioner Walter Rabon contacted the families of the dead and “shared a phone number with them if they needed anything.”
The press release also included a hyperlink to an online form that injured people can fill out to file a liability claim with the state.
A spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources did not immediately respond to an email message seeking more information about how it is helping victims.