Girl's family give heartbreaking update after she was severely injured in Miami boat crash that killed her 3 young friends
Calena Areyana Gruber, seven, was onboard a sailboat with five other campers at the Miami Youth Sailing Foundation summer camp and their 19-year-old counselor, when it collided with a 60-foot barge being pulled by a tugboat in Biscayne Bay on July 28.
The impact from the crash left the 17-foot Hobie Getaway sinking underneath the barge, but Gruber was able to swim out to save her life, an attorney representing the family told the Miami Herald.
She was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but has since been released and is now recovering at home.
Her family, though, says they still have a long road ahead of them as Gruber continues to have 'open lacerations and scrapes' all over her body.
'This little 7-year-old girl is devastated by what happened, both physically and emotionally,' attorney Justin B. Shapiro said in a statement, according to NBC South Florida.
'She was acutely aware that she could have died and she repeats that to her parents, and so it's going to be a long and difficult road for her.
'Her parents, of course, are committed to getting her all of the help and care that she needs,' he added, 'but seven-year-old children are not equipped to deal with this kind of trauma and so it's going to be a lot of work.'
Still, he said, Gruber's parents - Karina Gruber Moreno and Enrique Areyan Viqueira - 'know that we could have been having a very different conversation today' and 'know that we're fortunate to still have Calena with us.'
Two other young girls onboard the sailboat, Erin Co, 13, and seven-year-old Mila Yankelevich, died on their way to Ryder Trauma Center, with a Medical Examiner declaring they died of accidental drowning despite wearing life jackets.
A third girl, Arielle Mazi Bucham, 10, was rushed to the trauma center in critical condition alongside Gruber, but has since succumbed to her injuries.
The camp counselor and another girl, aged 12, walked away unharmed.
In their own statement on Monday, Gruber Moreno and Areyan Viqueira said they are 'deeply moved and incredibly grateful for the outpouring of prayers and kindness we have received from the community.'
They added that they were heartbroken for the families who lost their daughters in the crash, as they shared a photo of Calena arriving to camp on the fateful day.
'This is a deeply harrowing reminder of how suddenly and senselessly life can change,' the family's statement read.
'In an instant, what should have been a day of joy and connection on the water turned into a source of unimaginable grief,' the couple said, as they 'respectfully' asked for privacy 'as we focus on healing and processing this difficult situation.'
The United States Coast Guard is now continuing to investigate what may have caused the fatal collision.
Officials have already determined that both boat captains' toxicology reports came back negative, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed on Friday.
'I can confirm alcohol and drug testing was completed for both individuals onboard the tug and barge as well as the sailboat operator. All results were negative,' a spokesperson with the federal agency said.
Authorities also previously stated that the barge was supporting construction work in the Miami Beach area before the fatal collision.
It was transporting a large crane parked in front of the pilot house at the time of the collision, leading to speculation the crane may have obstructed the tugboat operator's vision, the Herald reports.
A loophole in Coast Guard boating regulations may have also contributed to the crash.
According to the regulations, commercial tugboats that are under 26 feet in length do not require an operator to be a licensed captain.
Coast Guard officials have not yet confirmed how large the tugboat was, but a review of photos and an analysis by two AI tools estimate the ship was under 26 feet.
The sunken sailboat is seen after being recovered from the water
The Coast Guard's navigation rules also stipulate that sailboats generally have the right of way over motorboats - but must yield to a vessel that is 'restricted in its ability to maneuver.'
It is now believed Coast Guard officials will work to determine whether the tugboat was restricted in its movement as part of the investigation.
Yet Miami Yacht Club member Katie Flood-Reiss has said 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.
The investigation into the fatal collision may now take several months to complete.
In the meantime, Gruber's family is pushing for changes to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future.
Attorney Shapiro noted that waterways in Florida, the boating capital of the world, have become a 'lawless sanctuary.'
'Our clients want answers of course, but first and foremost our clients want this to never happen again,' he said. 'We need to shine a spotlight on this so that we can learn every possible lesson from this.
'We cannot have this collision in vain, we need to learn from it and we need to make our waterways safer by any means necessary,' he urged.
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