Girl, 13, who died alongside seven-year-old friend when barge struck their boat as they attended sailing camp

Daily Mail​

5 days ago

A 13-year-old girl from Chile has been identified as the second victim who died during the terrifying Miami sailboat crash.
Erin Co died while onboard the boat as part of the Miami Youth Sailing Foundation summer camp when it suddenly collided with a 60-foot barge around 11am Monday in Biscayne Bay.
Co was a student at San Pedro Nolasco School in Vitacura, Santiago, who recently moved to the US, the school said in a memorial post about her.
She died alongside seven-year-old Mila Yankelevich, who was previously identified by Argentine newspaper La Nacion.
They were among five children aboard the sunken sailboat. A 19-year-old camp counselor was also with them at the time.
Co and Yankelevich were pronounced dead while on their way to Ryder Trauma Center, per the Miami Herald.
Two other children, aged eight and 11, remain hospitalized in critical condition. The unidentified counselor and other child, 12, walked away unharmed.
The sailboat was part of the Miami Yacht Club's youth sailing program, but since the incident, the program has been suspended while authorities investigate.
The Coast Guard will look at both vessels. They have started recovering the sunken sailboat which will now be stored at the US Coast Guard base in Miami Beach.
Capt. Frank Florio, Commander of Coast Guard Sector Miami said alcohol testing was conducted and results are pending.
Florio said that the agency believes 'all of the girls were wearing life jackets' when the crash happened, based on interviews throughout the investigation.
The investigation could take several months to complete for officials to determine what caused the deadly crash.
A witness at the scene told WSVN that a crane on the barge 'completely destroyed the boat' carrying Mila and four other campers as well as the counselor.
'The boat just went under and I heard a girl shouting for help under the crane,' the witness recounted.
Nine-year-old Enzo Pifer Eddy also told CBS News how 'all the kids went flying' in the aftermath.
According to the Coast Guard's navigation rules, sailboats generally have the right of way over motorboats, but must yield the right of way to a vessel that is 'restricted in its ability to maneuver.'
Determining whether a tugboat that was seen pushing the barge in the clash will now likely be a central focus for Coast Guard investigators.
They said at a news conference they will also be questioning the captain of the barge as they noted that 'the area was safe for sailing' at the time.
However, Miami Yacht Club member Katie Flood-Reiss told the Miami Herald that the sailboat's 19-year-old instructor would have had no chance of evading the barge in the bay.
'In those conditions, with almost no wind, it would have been impossible to turn that sailboat around quickly,' she explained.
Yankelevich was the granddaughter of Cris Morena and Gustavo Yankelevich, two prominent Argentine producers.
Her father, Tomas Yankelevich, is also a producer and director, while her mother, Sofia Reca, is an actress in Argentina. The family lived in Surfside, Florida.
Yankelevich's grandmother called her 'my girl with wings, my happy and free little fairy,' in a now heartbreaking tribute she posted of her late granddaughter for her birthday in February.
The sailboat was part of the Miami Yacht Club's youth sailing program
She added in Spanish that their 'moments together [were] filled with dancing [and] songs' and said her granddaughter embodied 'the sun, freedom and hugs.'
One year prior, in another social media post, Morena called her granddaughter 'my cutest little girl in the world... My red heart, my everything.'
She went on to explain that she chose to include the song 'Todo Todo,' which translates to 'Everything, everything' for her slideshow 'because I believe that everything you wish for with your red heart, you will be able to have it...
'And always with a smile and that bright face looking at life, life will give you back a lot of light and a lot of love.'
Sadly, this is not the first time the Yankelevich family was struck by tragedy.
Morena and Gustavo, who passed away in 1995, had a daughter, Romino, who died in 2010 at the age of 36 from a heart attack.