Tourist boat captain to be probed for tragedy off Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua's police, army and navy will investigate the captain of a tourist boat and his assistant for the deaths of 13 Costa Rican passengers killed when the vessel capsized in bad weather, a top government official said Sunday.

The "Reina del Caribe," Spanish for "Caribbean Queen," was carrying 33 people when it went down Saturday amid rain and strong winds as it ferried between the Corn Islands, a popular tourist destination, off Nicaragua's Caribbean coast.

Mario Berrios, the Nicaraguan navy's commander for the southern Caribbean region, said the boat's captain was detained because the vessel was not supposed to be sailing during the inclement weather that had been lashing the region for several days.