Joe Yates
The grieving father of a 13-year-old who tragically died while on a sailing summer camp in Miami has revealed their last heartbreaking conversation they had together.
Erin Ko Han was on board a sailboat alongside four other children and a 19-year-old camp counselor when their vessel was struck by a barge by Miami Beach's Hibiscus Island, in Biscayne Bay, on Monday (July 28).
The teenager was one of two fatalities, with seven-year-old Mila Yankelevich also passing, while two other children, an eight-year-old and 10-year-old, were also injured in the wreck and were rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
Just that day, Erin was dropped off at Florida's Miami Yacht Club’s sailing camp - something her father Pil Jye Ko recalls vividly.
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“I still remember when we dropped her off,” Ko told Miami's Local 10 news. “She said, ‘See you later, mom and dad.’"
But they wouldn't, as the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office ruled on Thursday that both Erin and Mila died as the result of 'accidental drowning'.
Ko continued: "We hoped that this was all just a dream, or that a miracle would have happened. That the hospital would call and say, ‘Your daughter is alive. She’s alright.’ But no, that didn’t happen. No, no, no. It’s not what happened."
He had to do what no parent should have to and identify her body.
"I can still see it in my mind. She had many wounds to her head, her arms, her legs, everywhere. I couldn’t believe it. No, no, no," Ko added.
Erin had only moved to the US from Chile with her family just last year as her parents sought out a better life for their daughter.
She was trilingual, fluent in English, Korean, and Spanish, while also working towards mastering Japanese too before this week's horror took the Nautilus Middle School away from her family and peers.
“She was the perfect daughter. She was perfect," Ko told the TV station.
“We are very much in pain in our hearts because she was all we had.
“I need to find justice. I need to honor my daughter because I can’t say goodbye as if nothing [happened]. I need to know what happened."
He also added: "There are two girls, girls, who are now in heaven. And two others are in critical condition. This can’t happen. They are children. Children who had much life ahead of them."
The incident is being investigated by the US Coast Guard, who reported on Tuesday that it believed all the children on board were wearing life jackets at the time of the crash.