Boat captain pleads guilty to manslaughter in deaths of three girls in Miami

The captain of a boat involved in a fatal maritime accident off Miami Beach has pleaded guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter. Yusiel López Insúa was operating a tugboat that pushed a barge when it collided with a sailboat carrying five young girls and an instructor.

The devastating accident occurred on July 28 of last year, resulting in the deaths of three minors. Among the victims were seven-year-old Mila Yankeleich from Argentina, 13-year-old Erin Victoria Ko Han from Chile, and Arielle Mazi Buchman, an American with Argentinian heritage, who died after a week in the hospital. Two other girls were injured in the collision.

López Insúa had previously indicated through his lawyer his intention to plead guilty to avoid a trial and the trauma of reliving the tragedy. The plea agreement recommends a one-year prison sentence, followed by six months of house arrest, a significantly reduced penalty from the potential ten years he faced if convicted at trial.

Prosecutors accused the captain of operating the boat without adequate vision systems, such as cameras and radars, and of using his phone at the time of the accident. The sailboat belonged to the Miami Youth Sailing Foundation's summer program. The force of the impact submerged the vessel beneath the barge, leading to the tragic loss of life.