JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - News4JAX went through more records Thursday released by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) related to a dock gangway collapse in Georgia that killed seven people, including four from Jacksonville.
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University North Florida Professor Dr. Adel ElSafty examined the records. He is a civil engineer with expertise in bridge engineering.
"Design deficiency, construction fall in material deficiency as well, or fabrication error, and we rule out the environmental impact," Dr. Adel ElSafty.
ElSafty narrowed down what happened. He said it depends on who made the actual materials and if they were made correctly.
"Basically, we are thinking of three to four possible causes for any of these failures, a design deficiency in this gangway, meaning that the cross-section themselves are not stirred enough to sustain this loading. That's one thing. The connections are not designed well. The load that you should sustain, which is listed somewhere as 50 pound per square foot, which can carry over 100, 150 persons," he said.
The gangway that fell at Sapelo Island Saturday was holding 20 or more people.
As ElSafty went through the court records, he went straight to the drawings page.
"Did they account for any kind of impact loading, any other kind of design consideration? What kind of design specs did they use and what kind of design cross sections that we came up with, and we see whether there is any deficiency or not?" he said.
The company responsible for the contracting of the work, Centennial Contractors Enterprises issued a statement Wednesday saying they are on scene helping with the investigation.
"When you retrieve that broken part, and then you can just see, is there any buckling in some of the members?" he said.
ElSafty told News4JAX that in order to do a proper investigation, officials need to conduct a thorough investigation. Plus, pictures of the gangway in the water need to have been taken so it can be viewed in its proper failed position.
"If there is any damage, we know that damage happened because of the failure. But if you start moving, swaying, straighten some members, then you might lose some evidence," ElSafty said.
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He said the key is finding the fabricator of the materials.
News4JAX is still going through the droves of records being continually added. As of Thursday, there were many, but none in the file for vessel maintenance.
Meanwhile, investigators are still working on finding the cause.
"It's different from one office or another, but in my case, it should be like two weeks, a week or two," he said.
DNR officials said it could take weeks before all the files are added to the records.