18 Year-Old Rescued after Month Adrift at Sea

The 10-foot boat containing Adrian Vasquez had travelled more than 600 miles in 28 days when it was found off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands by a commercial fishing vessel.

His two friends had died more than a week earlier, and Mr Vasquez survived by eating raw fish. He told his rescuers that a sudden rainstorm towards the end of his ordeal saved his life after he ran out of water.

Dozens of people turned out to welcome the noticeably-thin teenager home when he arrived back in Panama to be reunited with his relieved parents. He wept as he embraced his relatives but did not speak to journalists.

Captain Hugo Espinosa of the Ecuador coastguard, whose patrol boat picked Mr Vasquez up from the commercial fishing ship, said he was suffering from malnutrition and severe dehydration when he was found.

The captain said: “He didn’t know what was happening. He was quiet, looking lost. Little by little he began to react. But the subject of his dead friends made him stay silent and lower his gaze. It cost him a lot to discuss the matter.”

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