The heartbroken father of the 13-year-old killed within the horrific Miami boat crash Monday revealed the ultimate phrases his “good daughter” informed him earlier than the tragedy.
“I nonetheless bear in mind after we dropped her off. She mentioned, ‘So long, mother and pop!’” Pil Jye Ko informed Native 10 Information his daughter, Erin Ko Han, mentioned to him and his spouse as they dropped her off for her first day on the Miami Yacht Membership’s crusing camp.
Ko mentioned when he heard in regards to the crash, he hoped it was a “dream.” Nonetheless, when he realized it wasn’t, he prayed for a “miracle.”
“That the hospital would name and say, ‘Your daughter is alive. She’s alright.’ However no, that didn’t occur. No, no, no. It’s not what occurred,” Ko mentioned.
The grieving dad and his spouse rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be by their teen’s bedside, the place they had been in disbelief over her accidents.
“I can nonetheless see it in my thoughts. She had many wounds to her head, her arms, her legs, all over the place,” he recalled.
The Nautilus Center Faculty star scholar was fluent in English, Spanish, and Korean, and was studying Japanese. She excelled on the volleyball courtroom and liked swimming, Ko mentioned.
“She was the right daughter,” Ko mentioned.
Chilean natives, the Ko household relocated to Florida in 2024 for work and to supply a greater life for Erin.
Nonetheless, the heartbroken household is now left searching for “justice” for Erin’s loss of life.
“We’re very a lot in ache in our hearts as a result of she was all we had,” Ko informed the outlet. “I have to honor my daughter as a result of I can’t say goodbye as if nothing (occurred). I have to know what occurred.”
Mila Yankelevich, 7, the granddaughter of an award-winning Argentinian TV producer, Cris Morena, was additionally killed when the barge plowed into their sailboat whereas at summer time camp.
Two different campers, ages 8 and 11, had been critically injured within the wreck. The sailboat’s 19-year-old teacher and a 12-year-old lady had been unharmed.
The US Coast Guard launched an investigation into the lethal crash.
The captain of the barge — who has not been recognized — was given a sobriety check on the scene and has not been arrested.
