The three girls involved in the accident were aged 7, 10 and 13. They were taking part in a holiday sailing programme run by the Miami Yacht Club and were on a five-metre-long Hobie catamaran when the push boat struck them. The captain has been charged with seaman’s manslaughter, which is negligent homicide at sea. A federal judge has yet to determine the sentence. He faces up to ten years’ imprisonment.
The collision on Biscayne Bay
It has now been more than a year since the accident. According to court documents, on 28 July 2025, Insua was at the helm of a tugboat pushing a fully laden construction barge. Their destination was Di Lido Island, near Miami Beach. A few hundred metres away, the Miami Yacht Club was holding a children’s sailing camp that morning. A 19-year-old supervisor was sailing with five children on the Hobie Getaway catamaran towards Flagler Monument Island when the boat came to a halt in the path of the approaching tug-and-barge combination due to a lack of wind.
The carer stood up and tried to attract attention. However, the tugboat did not alter its course. The barge struck the catamaran and pushed it under its hull. The supervisor and two children survived. The three girls could not be saved. The first two died on the day of the accident; the third succumbed to her injuries two days later.
No lookout, obstructed view, mobile phone on board
The public prosecutor’s office states in the Court records of the Southern District of Florida Three key failings that led to the collision. The barge’s deckhouse and loading crane completely obstructed the forward view. No measures were taken to compensate for this. There were no forward-looking cameras, nor was there a radar. Furthermore, no crew member had been assigned to act as lookout.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, Insua was using his mobile phone to browse online marketplaces whilst driving. This has been confirmed by a forensic analysis of his smartphone. These activities were detected immediately at the time of the collision. Insua was reportedly aware of the danger posed by the poor visibility. In around twelve years on this route, he had already experienced previous near-collisions with sailing boats.
Safety on board
“Three children lost their lives in a tragedy that should never have happened,” said the public prosecutor in charge of the case following the guilty plea. Insua had admitted that his criminal conduct had caused the collision.
This is not a new pattern. Off the coast of Rügen in 2023, the tugboat “VB Rönnebeck” and the sailing yacht “Schöner Wohnen” collided – even though the tugboat was operating as a traffic safety vessel. Right up until the collision, there was no radio contact, no sound signals and no discernible warning. The Federal Bureau of Maritime Accident Investigation reached a clear conclusion: the system had failed. The YACHT has analysed the full BSU report and the background to the case.
Both cases highlight the same fundamental problem: anyone who relies on commercial vessels to spot, recognise or make contact with their own boat in good time is taking a considerable risk. We have set out in a Special feature on evasion rules and collision avoidance in summary.
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David Ingelfinger
Volontär
