An attorney representing one of the survivors of last week's sailboat-barge crash in Biscayne Bay says it was "a preventable" tragedy.
“It was a preventable crash, and that preventable crash has resulted in a world of trauma and hurt and tragedy for these families,” attorney Justin Shapiro told WLRN.
Shapiro has been hired by the family of Calena Gruber, one of three survivors of a crash that killed three other young girls last Monday when a barge slammed into a Miami Yacht Club summer camp sailboat.
The sailboat was carrying a group of children during a sailing summer camp on Biscayne Bay near Hibiscus Island. The crash sent six people, including a camp counselor, on the sailboat into the water.
READ MORE: Coast Guard: Sailboat-barge crash claims life of third victim — 10-year-old girl. Dies in hospital
Coast Guard officials said the six were rescued and sent to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where two of the victims — the 7- and 13-year-old — were declared dead upon arrival. A third victim died Sunday at the hospital.
All those aboard the sailboat were in their last week of the sailing camp for kids from 7 to 15 years old.
Shapiro said the Gruber family is devastated by the tragedy.
“Their hearts are broken, not only for what happened to Calena, but more importantly what happened to these other families, knowing that other families involved were not so fortunate,” Shapiro said.
He said Gruber is recovering at home after nearly drowning and suffering lacerations all over her body. He said the family is still collecting information as it weighs a possible lawsuit.
The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the crash, while Gruber’s family is doing their own inquiry.
Though Shapiro said the family is not ready to say who it would charge in a civil lawsuit, he claims “there is plenty of blame to go around.”
