Man Charged With Seaman's Manslaughter in Girls' Deaths

A Miami tugboat captain faces federal charges in a crash that killed three young campers last summer in Biscayne Bay, the Miami Herald reports. Prosecutors say 46-year-old Yusiel Lopez Insua was operating a tug pushing a 108-foot construction barge with his view blocked by cargo and equipment, and with no lookout assigned, when it struck a 17-foot sailboat carrying five girls and a counselor on July 28. He's charged with seaman's manslaughter, a felony that carries up to 10 years in prison. Investigators allege his phone was unlocked in the wheelhouse and that he was browsing online marketplaces at the time of the collision. The radio was also tuned to a channel for drawbridge communication at the time, rather than waterway emergencies, NBC News reports; the boat's route included no drawbridges.

Three girls, ages 7, 10, and 13, drowned after being trapped under the barge; two other children and a 19-year-old counselor survived, with both surviving younger girls seriously injured. They were in their last week of a Miami Yacht Club camp, the AP reports. Prosecutors say Insua had several "near misses" in the busy sailing area in the days before the crash and did not slow or change course after the sailboat lost wind; the counselor reportedly stood up and yelled in an attempt to alert him to their presence, to no avail. His attorney said Insua plans to accept responsibility and resolve the case without putting the families through additional pain. Civil suits against the barge's owner are ongoing; the company's owner has not been criminally charged.