The tugboat captain who plowed into a sailboat, killing three young girls who were on a summer camp, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter — as it emerged he was surfing the web on his phone rather than looking where he was going.

Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, broke into tears in a Miami federal courtroom on Tuesday as he accepted responsibility for using his cell phone while operating the boat with an obstructed view and without a proper lookout during the deadly incident. 

“He feels awful about the unimaginable pain and loss suffered by the three families who lost their three very young daughters,” Insua’s attorney Walter A. Reynoso told NBC Miami after the hearing. 

“Our thoughts remain with each of the families as they continue to endure this profound tragedy,” he added.

Insua, who left the courtroom holding his wife’s hand, declined to comment. He faced up to 10 years in federal prison but could get just a year and a day thanks to a plea deal.

Insua was operating the tugboat pushing a barge of debris through Biscayne Bay near Hibiscus Island on July 28, 2025 when it struck a stalled sailboat carrying a Miami Yacht Club camp counselor and five girls. 

The 19-year-old counselor and two girls were dragged under the barge, but were able to escape, officials said.

The other three — Mila Yankelevich, 7, Arielle Buchman, 10 and Erin Ko, 13 — became trapped in the wreckage and drowned.

Insua’s view was obstructed by a deckhouse and crane, and nobody had been assigned as lookout. Insua was also using his phone around the time of the crash, prosecutors said, with data from it showing he was using the internet at the time.

“Due to the obstructed visibility, and lack of a lookout, Insua did not see the stalled sailboat before the barge struck it,” the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.

“A forensic review of Insua’s cellphone revealed internet activity during transit, including at or near the time of the collision.”

Insua’s trial was scheduled to begin next week, but Reynoso said his client did not want the victims’ families to relive the horrific crash, which was caught on surveillance camera.

He pleaded guilty to one count of seaman’s manslaughter.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in October and he could face a maximum of ten years behind bars. 

The plea bargain, however, recommends he serve only one year plus one day in prison with six months of home confinement.