SAVANNAH (AP) – Survivors of a deadly walkway collapse at a state-run ferry dock on a Georgia island said that the government should help them pay for funerals for the seven people who died as well as medical bills and mental health counseling for those who lived.
Lawmakers on the Georgia Senate’s Urban Affairs Committee heard from four people who were at the dock on Sapelo Island on October 19 when a metal gangway snapped 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 50 members of her club for older adults to visit the island during an annual cultural festival organised by its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.
Brockington said she was waiting with others to board an afternoon ferry off the island when she suddenly felt as if she was in a falling elevator.
When she stopped suddenly, she felt both of her legs break. While bystanders used a rope to pull Brockington to safety, four members of her club perished.
“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 should not have happened. The state of Georgia owes us more than resources. They owe us an apology, and they need to make sure it never happens again.”
