Survivors of the deadly Sapelo Island gangway collapse in Georgia announced a civil action lawsuit against the parties involved in its engineering and construction.
On Oct. 19, 2024, more than 20 people fell into the Duplin River when the gangway collapsed on Sapelo Island during a Cultural Day celebration. Seven people were killed and more than a dozen were injured.
One of their attorneys, Chadrick Mance, said during a June 11 news conference at the Elm Grove Church in Meridian, Ga., that the incident was preventable.
Of the seven who died, four were Jacksonville residents: Cynthia Gibbs, 74, Jacqueline Carter, 75, Isaiah Thomas, 79, and Carlotta McIntosh, 93.
According to the complaint, the victims include Sapelo Island residents and visitors who had gathered to honor their Gullah-Geechee heritage.
The lawsuit, filed by The Mance Law Firm in the Gwinnett County State Court, names multiple engineering and construction companies alleging they failed to build and maintain a safe structure.
Seven people died Oct. 19, 2024, when a gangway failed at the Sapelo Island ferry dock.
The announcement came the same day as civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump also conducted a news conference with co-counsel from Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Bendesky, PC to discuss their lawsuit on behalf of those who died. The Morgan & Morgan law firm additionally said its representing the surviving family of one the victims.
Mance said there were multiple complaints made about the gangway prior to it collapsing and that it had an “improper design,” “improper maintenance” and an improper overall building process that led to it collapsing.
“This is a tragedy of unbelievable proportions,” Mance said. “Let me say this, this is symbolic of the disrespect for the lives of Black people. If it had been a more affluent area, we would have had a [new] gangway and no lives lost.”
Mance further stated that through an examination, his law firm figured out “the load capacity was not sufficiently met that day.”
“When we look at this civil action, I encourage everyone to look at it in broader historical context,” Mance said. “And what we mean by that is in the context of an island with resources that have really been deprived over a number of longstanding years. And that culminated in negligence that resulted in a gangway collapse.”
Some survivors of the collapse discussed the physical, emotional and mental toll the incident has had on them.
“For me, that day started as an exciting moment for me because I’d never been to Sapelo,” Janice Carrol said. “I enjoyed the event. Coming back was something totally different that I didn’t expect. And from that, I still have some problems with it, but I’m still here.”
“It’s been tough,” Michael Woods said alongside his wife. “We have a, at the time, an 8-year-old daughter, and our youngest was 2 years old. It’s been tough on them, especially our 8-year-old daughter. She talks about it a lot, sometimes has issues, you know, thinking about going back on the island, getting on boats. For myself, sleepless nights sometimes … seeing my daughter hanging on the side, finding out my wife and my youngest daughter are missing.”
Mance said the survivors are seeking damages for physical and emotional harm.
The Times-Union contributed to this report.
This story was first published by Times-Union news partner First Coast News.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Lawsuit states negligence in deadly Sapelo Island gangway collapse