Georgia dock collapse: witness says gangway buckled from ‘too much weight’

A woman who says she witnessed a dock collapse in Georgia that killed seven people says she noticed many were using walkers and wheelchairs before the gangway failed and sent them plummeting into the water.

“I can still see those people bobbling around in that water,” 84-year-old Daisy Hicks said in remarks published by the Florida Times-Union and obtained by its reporting partner First Coast News. Saying she was left traumatized by what she witnessed, she added: “I can still hear people screaming. I can still see [a] lady that was [subsequently] going around asking for blankets” to carry before the arrival of rescue equipment.

Hicks, who traveled to the site of the dock collapse as part of her senior traveling club, also said: “I think it was too much weight on it because they had all them walkers, they had all them wheelchairs, they had all them people and that thing just [went] ‘bam’ – it just went out.

“It was a day I don’t want to see [any] more.”

About 40 people were waiting for a ferry to take them from Sapelo Island, Georgia, to the mainland when the aluminum dock they were standing on collapsed. At least 20 people fell into into water laden with sharp oyster shells because of a low tide, and not all of them could be rescued or save themselves.

Seven people – all between the ages of 74 and 93 – died. They were among the hundreds of visitors touring Sapelo Island, where the last Gullah Geechee community of Black descendants lives.

The island was hosting an annual cultural festival at the time of the dock collapse, which officials said resulted from a “catastrophic failure” of the gangway structure whose exact cause has remained under investigation in the days since.

Hicks was part of a tour group that included the oldest collapse victim to die: 93-year-old Carlotta McIntosh.

McIntosh was “the life of our club”, Hicks said.

“Everywhere that club goes she would always be there,” Hicks said. “She had a walker but she could still get on that walker and go.”

McIntosh’s granddaughter, Atiyya Hassan, told the Georgia news outlet WSB that “the shock has [not] worn down yet”.

“I wanted people to know she’s vibrant,” Hassan said. “She was independent. She lived by herself. She got tens of thousands of people registered to vote. She was very active in her community.”

Hicks said her group was having a great trip until “that rail of whatever” fell.

“Everybody would have come back, and we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in right now,” Hicks said.

Ben Crump, the renowned civil rights attorney, announced on Monday he is representing the families of three of the people who died and one who was hospitalized.

In a statement, Crump said: “The tragic deaths and injuries caused by the collapse of the Sapelo Island dock gangway are devastating for these families and the entire community. We will not rest until we uncover the truth behind this catastrophic failure and hold those responsible accountable.”

Crump continued: “This should never have happened, and it is crucial that we prevent future tragedies by addressing the negligence that led to this horrific event.”