Panama teen was adrift at sea for 26 days; mother calls return 'a miracle'

(CNN) -- It was a Friday evening in February when Adrian Vasquez, an 18-year-old from the town of Rio Hato, Panama, accepted an invitation from two friends to accompany them on what was proposed as an overnight fishing expedition.

Their plan, according to Vasquez's mother, Nilsa de la Cruz, "was to return the following morning. On February 24, they left from Ensenada Beach in the town of San Carlos aboard a small fishing boat."

But the following morning came and went without their return, and the Vasquez family started looking for the 18-year-old and his friends.

Arnaldo Vasquez, the teen's father and a hotel worker, asked fishermen to search for them along the shore from which they had departed, and his mother prayed at home with relatives and friends. Soon after, the Panamanian navy joined the search, sending ships and airplanes to look for Vasquez, Oropeces Betancourt, 24, and Fernando Osorio,16.        Read More