A local tug captain has pleaded guilty to federal charges after operating a barge with obstructed visibility and without a proper lookout, causing a fatal collision that claimed the lives of three children participating in a sailing camp in Florida's Biscayne Bay nearly a year prior.
According to court records, Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, of Miami, was piloting a 25-foot (7.6-metre) tug pushing a construction barge measuring 108 feet (32.9 metres) long and 28 feet (8.6 metres) wide and displacing 149 GT across Biscayne Bay on July 28, 2025.
The barge, loaded with construction debris, had its forward view obstructed by a deckhouse and crane, and no crewmember had been assigned to serve as a lookout.
At the same time, a sailboat carrying one counselor and five children from a nearby sailing camp lost wind and stalled in the tug’s path. Because Insua’s forward visibility was obstructed and no lookout had been assigned, he failed to see the stalled sailboat before the barge ran over it, submerging the sailboat beneath the barge’s hull.
A forensic review of Insua’s mobile phone revealed internet activity while the tug was underway, including at or near the time of the collision.
The counselor and two children escaped after being dragged beneath the barge. Three children became trapped beneath the wreckage and drowned.
Insua pleaded guilty to seaman’s manslaughter, and he faces up to 10 years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
