A 27-year-old mother and her five-month-old baby girl drowned after a dangerously overloaded motorboat capsized in New York Harbor on Saturday night, and the captain now faces 13 counts of reckless endangerment.
Sara Sanchez and her daughter Antonella Garcia were pulled from the Hudson River and airlifted to NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, where both were declared dead. Twelve other passengers survived with minor injuries. Manuel Hernandez, the 46-year-old boat captain, was charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment after authorities determined he had packed 14 people onto a 22-foot bowrider motorboat before it turned over near Buoy 32, between the Statue of Liberty and the Bay Ridge Anchorage.
The capsizing triggered a massive search-and-rescue operation. NYPD divers entered the water to pull passengers from the river while FDNY Harbor, Scuba, and Aviation units converged on the scene. The emergency call came in at roughly 10:30 p.m., and responders found Sanchez and Garcia in critical condition before airlifting them to the hospital. Neither survived.
The central fact is hard to get past. Hernandez allegedly loaded 14 people onto a vessel barely longer than a mid-size sedan. NYPD told CNN that the boat was a 22-foot bowrider, a common open-bow recreational craft designed for a handful of passengers, not a crowd. How many people the boat was actually rated to carry remains unclear; authorities have not released that figure. But the charge sheet speaks for itself: 13 counts of reckless endangerment, one for each passenger Hernandez allegedly put at risk.
Whether additional charges, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, for instance, are forthcoming has not been addressed publicly. The Daily Mail reported it reached out to the NYPD for further comment but did not indicate a response. Hernandez's custodial status and whether he has been arraigned also remain unreported.
Sanchez, 27, and Garcia, just five months old, were the only fatalities. The New York Post reported harrowing cries from loved ones at the hospital, with some still clutching life jackets. One unnamed relative, upon learning the news, could manage only a few broken words.
"No. Why? Why? No."
The 12 surviving passengers were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. Their identities have not been released. The nature of the group, whether they were family, friends, or paying passengers on an informal charter, has not been disclosed. Nor has any information surfaced about whether Hernandez held a valid license to operate the vessel.
Saturday's disaster came just over a month after a separate incident rattled the city's waterways. On July 5, a Kodiak 100 seaplane carrying eight people crashed into the East River after departing East Hampton at 10:38 a.m. The FDNY described it as a "hard landing" and said all eight were safely rescued, though two sustained minor injuries. A source at the operator, Blade Air, attributed the crash to choppy water kicked up by passing ferries and a possible last-second wind gust, saying the waves "can be a problem as you try to land on the water." The impact cracked a strut and damaged a pontoon.
No one died in the seaplane incident. Saturday night's capsizing was a different story, and the difference was a captain who, according to the charges, crammed far too many people onto far too small a boat.
When someone entrusted with the safety of 13 other human beings, including a five-month-old infant, makes a decision that reckless, accountability is the bare minimum the public should expect. Sara Sanchez and Antonella Garcia deserve at least that much.
