MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A 10-year-old girl who was one of several people injured when a sailboat carrying campers was struck by a barge in Biscayne Bay has died, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
In a press release issued Sunday afternoon, USCG officials wrote, “The child passed while surrounded by her immediate family.”
The victim becomes the third person to pass away as a result of Monday’s crash near Hibiscus Island.
In a statement, Capt. Frank Florio, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Miami, wrote:
“Our hearts continue to morn with all those impacted by Monday’s tragic incident, especially with the passing of another one of Miami’s children today.”
Investigators said the sailboat was carrying six people, five children and one adult, when it was was struck by the barge and began to sink.
In a post on X, former Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman said the third victim was his cousin, Arielle Buchman. He wrote:
“On the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, my family mourns the loss of our 10 year-old cousin Arielle, who passed away as a result of a tragic sailboat accident that occurred early in the week.”
7News cameras on Sunday captured loved ones embracing and consoling each other at the entrance of Temple Menorah in Miami Beach, where a funeral service was held for Buchman.
The two other deceased victims were identified as 7-year-old Mila Yankelevich of Argentina and 13-year-old Erin Ko, a Chilean national who had recently moved to the United States, officials said.
Several days ago, Ko’s former school shared video of a balloon release and memorial held in her honor.
The victims were participating in a youth sailing lesson through the Miami Yacht Club at the time of the crash. In a statement, a spokesperson for the club wrote:
“This is a tragedy that has touched not only the sailing community but everyone who cherishes our Bay and the young lives who brought such joy to it.”
The crash has rattled the South Florida and international sailing communities. On Thursday, the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office said Yankelevich and Ko died of accidental drowning.
On Friday, officials said toxicology tests for the operators of a tugboat, barge and sailboat involved in the crash came back negative, ruling out alcohol or drugs as factors in the crash.
“The Coast Guard remains committed to conducting a thorough investigation to ensure all facts are uncovered,” Florio went on to say in his statement. “Our investigative team will be joined by investigators from Argentina, the home nation of one of the victims.”
Another young girl who was also on that boat, seven-year-old Kayla Gruber, who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, has been released from the hospital Monday morning and is now home recovering according to her family.
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