SAPELO ISLAND, Ga. — Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is now representing the families of three people who died in the Sepelo Island gangway collapse over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Crump is expected to hold a press conference calling for accountability.
Seven people were killed when a gangway leading to a ferry gave way last Saturday.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources said at least 20 people were on the dock and fell into the river.
“It is a structural failure. There should be very, very little maintenance to an aluminum gangway like that, but we’ll see what the investigation unfolds,” Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Walter Rabon said at a news conference.
The gangway was installed in 2021, authorities said.
Those who died were all older than 70 years old. Two of them were from the Atlanta area.
On Monday, the damaged gangway was taken to a secured facility where it will be examined as part of an investigation into what happened. The ferry dock also resumed operations on Monday.
Icy White of Atlanta recorded video of the immediate aftermath on her cellphone and shared it with The Associated Press. It shows tourists and island residents jumping into action to rescue imperiled strangers and render aid to the injured in a remote location with few trained first responders initially on-site.
“There was no EMS that was there,” said Darrel Jenkins, White’s cousin. “We were the EMS.”
White’s family was among hundreds visiting the isolated Georgia barrier island Saturday for a fall festival spotlighting the history and culture of its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants. The celebration gave way to tragedy when the gangway collapsed, sending seven visitors to their deaths.