Barge Strikes Sailboat, Throwing Six People Including Counselor Into Water

A federal charge of seaman's manslaughter filed against a Miami tugboat captain has focused sharp scrutiny on how tug-and-barge operations are regulated in recreational waterways, and what breaks down when commercial traffic and children's sailing programs share the same channel with no system to protect either.

At around 11:15 a.m. on July 28, 2025, a 60-foot construction barge being pushed by a tugboat struck a 17-foot Hobie Getaway sailing vessel near Hibiscus Islands in Miami Beach, carrying a 19-year-old female camp counselor and five girls. The girls were in their last week of a sailing camp for children aged 7 to 15, operated by the Miami Yacht Club. The sailboat had stalled in the barge's path due to a lack of wind. The camp counselor stood up and tried to alert the barge and tug to no avail.

The barge struck and dragged the small sailboat underwater. The counselor and two children escaped after being dragged under the barge, but the other three girls were trapped in the wreckage and drowned. The incident killed 7-year-old Mila Yankelevich, 13-year-old Erin Ko Han, and 10-year-old Ari Buchman, and injured two others. A fourth girl was hospitalized and later released, while the fifth girl and the instructor were treated at the scene.

Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, of Miami, is facing a seaman's manslaughter charge in connection with the July 28 crash. Authorities said Lopez Insua failed to maintain a proper lookout and appeared to be shopping online at the time of the crash. Authorities said that Lopez Insua's cellphone was unlocked during the transit time leading up to the collision. A forensic review revealed internet activity during transit, including at or near the time of the collision.

The physical configuration of the vessel compounded the danger. According to a Department of Justice press release, the tugboat's forward view was blocked by a deckhouse and crane, and no one aboard was assigned to watch for hazards, a basic maritime safety requirement. Lopez Insua was pushing the construction barge with the 25-foot tugboat "Wood Chuck." A witness who saw the collision described what followed: "The crane just completely destroyed the boat. The boat just went under, and I heard a girl shouting for help under the crane."

The Coast Guard referred the case under 18 U.S. Code § 1115, known as the federal seaman's manslaughter statute. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said: "This information alleges a preventable loss of life on our waterways, including the failure to follow basic maritime safety rules and cellphone use during transit at or near the time of the collision." If convicted of seaman's manslaughter, Lopez Insua faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews were first on scene, joined by Miami, Miami-Dade, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Coast Guard teams, who recovered all six people from the water. The two-vessel collision prompted a large emergency response involving multiple law enforcement agencies.

The case now sits before federal prosecutors as a test of whether maritime oversight kept pace with the density of traffic on Biscayne Bay. Three layered failures converged in under a minute: a vessel operating blind, no one posted to look ahead, and an operator whose phone logs place him elsewhere in the moments before impact. Whether criminal accountability translates into stricter dispatch protocols and mandatory lookout requirements for tug-and-barge operations in shared-use waterways is a question federal authorities have yet to answer.