Survivors of deadly collapse at Sapelo Island seek state's help for funerals, counseling

Regina Brinson, center, weeps at a news conference Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, while speaking alongside her mother, Katrena Alexander and attorney Ben Crump during a news conference in Jacksonville, Fla.
Regina Brinson, center, weeps at a news conference Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, while speaking alongside her mother, Katrena Alexander and attorney Ben Crump during a news conference in Jacksonville, Fla. Crump represents families of three of the seven people killed when a ferry dock walkway collapsed on Sapelo Island, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 19. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

Survivors of a deadly walkway collapse at a state-run ferry dock on a Georgia island said Thursday 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 Oct. 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 organized by its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black descendants of enslaved people.