A Florida tugboat captain was sentenced to 18 months in prison for a July 2025 collision that killed three children from a sailing camp.
Yusiel Lopez Insua, 47, was at the helm of the 25' Wood Chuck, pushing a 60' construction barge across Biscayne Bay on July 28 when the barge struck a stalled 17' sailboat carrying a counselor and five children.
Three children, ages seven, 10, and 13, drowned trapped in the wreckage. The 19-year-old counselor and two other children, ages eight and 12, survived after being dragged under the barge.
In March federal prosecutors charged the captain with seaman’s manslaughter. Prosecutors said the tugboat's forward view was blocked by a deckhouse and crane, and no additional lookout had been posted during the barge transit. A forensic examination of Insua's cellphone also revealed internet activity during transit, including at or near the time of the collision, prosecutors said.
Insua had faced up to 10 years in prison. After initially pleading not guilty, he entered a guilty plea in July.
“My client is deeply remorseful for his conduct," Attorney Walter A. Reynoso told reporters at the time he pleaded. "He feels awful. He feels awful about the unimaginable pain and loss suffered by the three families who lost three very young daughters.”
In the Oct. 13 sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Jacqueline Becerra increased the sentence that had been proposed by the prosecutors and Insua’s lawyer of 12 months and one day in prison, to be followed by six months of home detention.
Becerra compared Insua’s pilotage to driving down Interstate 95 blindfolded, WSVN-TV Channel 7 reported. The collision happened at 11:30 a.m. July 28, 2025 when the tug and barge overran the sailboat near Hibiscus Island and Monument Island in Miami Beach.
The case was investigated by the Coast Guard Investigative Service Southeast Region, Coast Guard Sector Miami, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Prosecutors credited the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, Miami Police Department, and Miami Beach Police Department for rescue efforts at the scene.
