'It's a miracle she's alive': Girl injured in boat crash was trapped under barge

Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald on Aug 4, 2025

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MIAMI — A 7-year-old girl who survived after a barge crashed into a small sailboat of summer campers was trapped under the 60-foot vessel but still managed to swim out to save her life, the attorney representing her family told the Herald Monday.

“This was profoundly traumatic,” said Justin B. Shapiro, the Miami attorney representing Calena Areyan Gruber, 7, and her family. “It’s a miracle she’s alive.”

Calena is emotionally and physically devastated, he added, and has “open lacerations and scrapes” all over her body.

“This is something no 7-year-old should have to endure,” he said.

After last Monday’s boat crash in Biscayne Bay, which resulted in the death of three young girls, Calena was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was in critical condition. Her family said Monday she was released from Jackson and is recovering at home.

“We are deeply moved and incredibly grateful for the outpouring of prayers and kindness we have received from the community,” Calena’s parents, Karina Gruber Moreno and Enrique Areyan Viqueira, said in statement Monday. “We now respectfully ask for privacy as we focus on healing and processing this difficult situation.”

Shortly after 11 a.m. July 28, a 60-foot barge being pushed by a tugboat slammed into a 17-foot Hobie Getaway in Biscayne Bay. Five girl campers and a female camp counselor from the Miami Yacht Club, a 98-year-old club on Watson Island that teaches children how to sail, were onboard the sailboat.

The barge, which was transporting a large crane parked in front of the pilot house that may have obstructed the tugboat operator’s vision, ran over the sailboat, trapping it —and the campers — underwater.

READ MORE: ‘Heartbroken beyond words.’ Family of girl killed in sailboat crash speaks out

Mila Yankelevich, 7, Erin Victoria Ko Han, 13, and Arielle ‘Ari’ Mazi Buchman, 10, died in the aftermath of the collision, which occurred around 11:15 a.m. between Hibiscus and Monument islands off Miami Beach. A 12-year-old girl and the 19-year-old female camp counselor were treated at the scene.

The three girls died at Jackson. The Coast Guard said it believes the five girls and the counselor were wearing life jackets at the time of the crash.

Loopholes in tugboat regulations

Shapiro said Calena’s family is supporting the Coast Guard investigation — but urged the agency to keep its promise to learn “every possible lesson from this tragedy.”

A loophole in Coast Guard boating regulations may have contributed to the crash, maritime experts told the Herald. If a commercial tugboat is under 26 feet, it doesn’t require the tugboat’s operator to be a licensed captain. While the Coast Guard, which is leading the crash investigation, has not said how big the tugboat was, a review of photographs taken by Herald photojournalists and analysis by two AI tools estimate the tugboat is under 26 feet.

READ MORE: Coast Guard loopholes could be linked to barge crash, maritime experts say

Calena’s family is hoping for changes to prevent similar incidents in the future. The waterways in Florida, the boating capital of the world, have become a “lawless sanctuary,” said Shapiro.

In their statement, Gruber Moreno and Areyan Viqueira said they were heartbroken for the families who lost their daughters in the tragedy.

“This is a deeply harrowing reminder of how suddenly and senselessly life can change,” Calena’s parents said in their statement. “In an instant, what should have been a day of joy and connection on the water turned into a source of unimaginable grief.”

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