Tugboat captain charged in crash that killed 3 sailboat campers in Biscayne Bay

David Goodhue, Miami Herald on Mar 31, 2026

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MIAMI — The captain of the tugboat pushing a large construction barge that crashed into a sailboat full of summer campers, killing three young girls last summer, has been charged with their deaths.

Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46 , was charged with seaman’s manslaughter for operating the barge with obstructed visibility and without assigning a proper lookout, according to a document filed in federal court Tuesday. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted. The charge was recommended by U.S. Coast Guard investigators in October.

Prosecutors also said in the charging document that Insua’s cellphone was unlocked in the wheelhouse and he was “on internet marketplaces, including at the time the collision occurred,” the document states. Prosecutors said Insua’s view was obstructed by the cargo, a deckhouse and crane on the barge.

Mila Yankelevich, 7, Erin Victoria Ko Han, 13, and Arielle "Ari" Mazi Buchman, 10, were trapped beneath the barge tangled in the wreckage of the 17-foot Hobie Getaway sailboat after the crash, and they died from drowning.

A 19-year-old camp counselor, and two other children, ages 7 and 8, were also on the sailboat, but survived. They were attending camp at the Miami Yacht Club at the time of the deadly crash, which happened around 11 a.m. July 28.

According to the charging document, Insua was operating a 25-foot tugboat pushing a 108-foot long, 149-gross ton construction barge. They were part of a crew disassembling a seawall at a home on Star Island, the document states.

The barge was hauling concrete debris to an empty lot on Di Lido Island in Miami Beach across the bay.

Prosecutors said that the area of Biscayne Bay the tug was transitting was known to be busy with sailboats and that Insua had several “near misses” in the days prior to the collision.

There were two crewmen on the barge, and neither was assigned as a lookout, prosecutors said.

The charging document also states the sailboat lost wind propulsion, and Insua did not reverse course or slow down before crashing into the small vessel.