JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Lawyers representing families of three of the people who died in a dock gangway collapse in Georgia over the weekend plan to hold a news conference Tuesday morning in Jacksonville.
WATCH: News4JAX is streaming the news conference live. Press play above to watch
Four of the seven people who died were from Duval County.
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The tragedy happened Saturday afternoon in Sapelo Island, Georgia, where crowds had gathered for an annual cultural celebration of the island’s Gullah-Geechee community of slave descendants.
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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Monday he is representing the families of three of those who died and one of the three people who remained hospitalized after the incident.
Other victims are being represented by civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers and Mario Pacella, both of Strom Law Firm.
The seven victims who died were identified as:
- Isaiah Thomas, 79, from Jacksonville
- Carlotta Mcintosh, 93, from Jacksonville
- Jacqueline Crews Carter, 75, from Jacksonville
- Cynthia Alynn Gibbs, 74, from Jacksonville
- Charles League Houston, 77, from Darien, Ga.
- Queen Welch, 76, Atlanta
- William Lee Johnson Jr., 73, from the Atlanta area
First responders say as many as 40 people were on the dock gangway when it collapsed Saturday on Sapelo Island, sending at least 20 people tumbling into the water.
Georgia authorities said they are investigating the “catastrophic failure” of the dock gangway.
“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, a day after the tragedy on Sapelo Island.
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The gangway, installed in 2021, connected an outer dock where people board the ferry to another dock onshore.
It gave way as an estimated 700 people visited the largely unspoiled Sapelo Island, about 60 miles south of Savannah, for its annual fall Cultural Day event spotlighting Hogg Hummock, home to a few dozen Black residents.
Crump said his legal team is seeking justice and answers regarding the cause of the collapse and issued the following statement:
“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. This should never have happened, and it is crucial that we prevent future tragedies by addressing the negligence that led to this horrific event.”
Ben Crump, civil rights attorney
Crump’s legal team did not specify in Monday’s announcement whose families they are representing.