The captain of the tugboat pushing a large construction barge that crashed into a sailboat full of summer campers, killing three young girls last summer, has been charged with their deaths.
Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, was charged with seaman’s manslaughter for operating the barge with obstructed visibility and without assigning a proper lookout, according to a document filed in Miami federal court Tuesday. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted. U.S. Coast Guard investigators in October had recommended the charge.
Prosecutors also said in the charging document that Insua’s cellphone was unlocked in the wheelhouse, and he was “on internet marketplaces, including at the time the collision occurred,” the document states. Prosecutors said Insua’s view was obstructed by the cargo, a deckhouse and crane on the barge…