The two tragic passengers killed when a dangerously overcrowded motorboat flipped in New York Harbor have been ID’d as a mom and her infant daughter from Queens, police sources said Sunday.
The dead mom’s stricken boyfriend, who also was the baby’s father, was among those on board at the time, according to police — and seen weeping in heartwrenching exclusive Post photos as he was rescued.
The killed mom and baby were identified as Sara Sanchez, 27, and her 5-month-old, Antonella Garcia, of College Point. They were among 14 people on the 2019 21-foot white Yamaha AR210 when it capsized close to Liberty Island just before 10:30 p.m. Saturday, sources said.
Everyone went into the drink: the mom and baby, boat captain and six women ranging in age from 20 to 45 and five men ages 29 to 58, sources said. All of the passengers except for one are from Queens, they said. The other one is from the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
“I’m in shock right now,” said Sanchez’s neighbor, Diego Naranjo, to The Post on Sunday, adding that the mom and her baby had only moved into the neighborhood two months ago. “She was a really nice person. My condolences to her family.”
The vessel typically has a capacity of about 10 people, according to online sites.
But it should not have been carrying more than five passengers, given the location where the fatal incident occurred, a well-placed source told The Post.
“Recreational boating in New York Harbor is the Wild West,’’ the source said. “Uncharted debris, rip rap, bridge abutments, anchorage chains, commercial shipping channels, marine plane traffic.”
The boat’s operator, Manuel Hernandez, 46, was hit with 13 charges of reckless endangerment, with further possible charges expected to involve the deaths of the mother and child, sources said.
His last known address was a swanky Midtown Manhattan building just south of Central Park. His exact relationship to the victims is unknown.
In addition to the mom and baby, the other 11 passengers on board were identified as six women — ages 20, 41, 43, 43, 44 and 45 — and the five men ages 29, 34, 44, 50 and 58, sources said.
The 29-year-old man lives at the same address as the mom and baby, while the 58-year-old male passenger is the only one not from Queens. He lives on Park Avenue between East 95th and 96th streets in Manhattan.
A similar tragedy struck the Big Apple four years earlier.
In July 2022, an overloaded boat packed with revelers capsized near Pier 86 in Manhattan, leaving a 7-year-old boy and a 50-year-old woman dead after they were trapped underneath.
Youngster Julian Vasquez and Lindelia Vasquez, a relative, were visiting from Colombia when they went on the ill-fated excursion with family in the five boroughs.
