‘Carried droplets of love’: Girl killed in barge-sailboat crash was friend to all

Ten-year-old Arielle ‘Ari’ Mazi Buchman was an old soul in a young body.

When she was 2, she volunteered to sit with another girl who didn’t want to eat lunch without her mother. That became part of Ari’s daily routine, and the girl wouldn’t eat lunch without Ari, said Rabbi Eliot Pearlson of Temple Menorah in Miami Beach.

“When I was in kindergarten, if some kid didn’t want to eat lunch, I would have taken it,” Pearlson quipped. “But not Ari. She was always first to rise to the occasion.”

Ari, a rising fifth grader at Lehrman Community Day School in Miami Beach, died last Wednesday after a barge crashed into a sailboat carrying Miami Yacht Club summer campers off Miami Beach, according to her online obituary.

Mila Yankelevich, 7, and 13-year-old Erin Victoria Ko Han were also killed after the 60-foot barge being pushed by a tugboat crashed into the 17-foot Hobie Getaway sailboat with five campers — girls between the ages of 7 and 13 — and one 19-year-old female camp counselor aboard. The crash happened between Hibiscus and Monument islands in Biscayne Bay around 11:15 a.m. on July 28.

READ MORE: A third child in the Biscayne Bay barge-sailboat crash has died, yacht club says

Mila was the granddaughter of well-known Argentine television producers Cris Morena and Gustavo Yankelevich and had moved to South Florida with her parents. Erin and her family had moved to Miami Beach in December from Chile, where her elementary school held a Mass in her honor.

READ MORE: Granddaughter of renowned Argentine TV producers dies in Miami boat crash

READ MORE: ‘Heartbroken beyond words.’ Family of girl killed in sailboat crash speaks out

Ari, Pearlson said was always happy to lend a hand; while at summer camp one year, she lent a bathing suit to another camper who didn’t have one.

“That was Ari,” the rabbi said. “She did her best to bring light where there was darkness.”

‘Always with a smile’

Pearlson, who has been a rabbi for four decades, said he named Ari when she was born and had married her parents, Todd Buchman and Rhonda Mitrani. Ari was the youngest of the couple’s three children. Among Ari’s relatives is former Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman.

Pearlson said the community — including Ari’s teachers at Lehrman — is devastated by the tragedy. “I can’t think of anything that has affected everyone as much as this,” the rabbi said.

READ MORE: ‘We were screaming and screaming.’ Witnesses watch as barge hits sailboat of campers

Jodi Bruce, Lehrman’s head of school, remembered how every afternoon, Ari would come find her at the welcome center before heading home — a tradition that began in kindergarten.

Without fail, Ari would stop in each day to ask how Bruce’s day had been and wish her a good night.

“It seems like a small gesture, but in those few seconds, she showed me such attention, kindness, and love. Always with a smile, always with warmth,” Bruce said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “That was Ari — thoughtful, wise, mature beyond her years.”

Ari also had a big impact on campers at Camp Judaea, the summer camp in Hendersonville, North Carolina, that she began going to in 2023 when she was 8. She followed her siblings Ezra and Drea.

“As Rabbi Pearlson wisely reminded us during the funeral, people ask why prayers didn’t change this outcome,” Lori Zeligman, the camp director, wrote in an email to camp families. “He responded that prayers are not meant to change the outcome, but to change us. Ari has changed us, she has made us better Jews, a better community, and a better family.”

“The joy she brought to the world, like the way she loved to dance, will never be forgotten.”

Linking arms with coach

In the days following the barge-sailboat crash, Bruce said she has spoken with many teachers and staff at Lehrman — and everyone seems to have a meaningful memory of Ari.

“It’s as if she carried droplets of love and misted you generously, day by day, person by person,” Bruce said in the statement, which was read by Rabbi Pearlson at Ari’s funeral.

Bruce recalled how Coach Aaron gave Ari the nickname “Bucky” and how the two would often walk arm in arm back into the welcome room after P.E. each day.

“He said she would always just come up to him and put her arm around him — he could count on it every day,” Bruce said. “That is the thing with Ari, you could always count on her.”

Ari and her smile left a lasting impact on everyone at Lehrman, Bruce said, adding that she isn’t sure what the days ahead will look like without Ari at the school.

“She was beautiful inside and out, and she made this world — and our school better for us all,” Bruce said.

A love of dance

Ari’s impact was felt beyond Lehrman.

She took dance classes at Mady’s Dance Factory, joining the program in August 2023, said director Mady Richmond.

She started off by taking stretch and gymnastics classes twice a week, “and it was clear from the beginning that she had something special,” Richmond said in a statement to the Herald. “She brought so much energy, joy, and determination into the room.”

By the following year, Ari had auditioned to join the dance team and made the cut, a moment she was so proud of — and one the academy will never forget, Richmond said.

She joined the hip-hop, lyrical and jazz competition teams, earning platinum, first-place and special judges awards at various competitions. She even performed at the academy’s NASCAR showcase in front of thousands of people.

“Ari was such a hard worker. She always wanted to perfect every skill I taught her,” one of her dance teachers, msjenchoreo, posted on Instagram. “She’d ask me to watch her, eager for corrections so she could improve — and she always ended class by thanking me with a smile.”

Her love of dance earned her a special award from Camp Judaea: She won a “paper plate award” for the person “most likely to turn everything into a dance party.”

“[B]eyond the dancing, Ari was truly a ray of sunshine, “ Richmond said. “She had this incredible ability to light up the room just by being in it. She was always smiling, always joking, always making those around her feel better — no matter what kind of day they were having. She loved to learn, to dance, to be part of a team, and it showed in everything she did.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 4:20 PM.

Grethel Aguila

Miami Herald

Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.