Stranded fisherman lashes out after friend's death

Rangel, a 50-year-old Riverside resident, and Lorenzo Madrid of Malibu were with a Mexican fishing guide in a 22-foot open boat when they became separated from a larger charter ship.

They spent nearly two weeks on a rugged island of jagged rocks and cactus some 200 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border. They ate grasshoppers and snails, drank gulps of water from plastic bottles that washed ashore and slept in caves to avoid fierce nighttime winds.

But the ordeal was too much for the 50-year-old Madrid. He died of apparent exposure and dehydration Sunday. Rangel and the guide were rescued early Tuesday.

"Lorenzo was just getting weaker and weaker," Rangel said in an interview at a San Diego hospital. "He just couldn't hold on any longer."

Rangel, an inspector at an electronics manufacturing company, is recovering from exposure and blood clots he developed in his legs while on the island. The guide, 25-year Jose Luis Ramos Garcia, was treated at a hospital in his hometown of San Felipe, Mexico.

The entire episode could have been avoided, Rangel said.

Their 22-foot boat had no radio, flares or lifejackets -- only seat cushions that were so old they no longer floated, he said.

"A simple radio would have taken care of it, simple safety equipment and a plan if something went wrong," Rangel said.

They bought their trip from Sea of Cortez Fishing in Hacienda Heights. A message left on the company's answering machine Friday by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

The incident is under investigation and criminal charges could be filed if Madrid's death can be attributed to negligence, said Marco Antonio Montoya, an investigator for the Ministerio Publico, the local police force, in San Felipe.

"At this point, the investigation is wide open and we don't know which way it will lead," Montoya said.

Madrid and Rangel, friends since childhood, boarded an 87-foot fishing charter Sept. 30 in San Felipe. Four days later, they set off from the larger ship to fish around islands in the gulf.

Rangel believes the guide became disoriented because he strayed too far from the ship and appeared to be heading in the wrong direction on their way back.

It grew dark and the seas became rough and they still hadn't found the ship. They beached the small boat when it ran out of fuel.

They ended up on Isla Angel de la Guarda, one of many islands in the gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez. The men had three bottles of beer, four 15 ounce bottles of water, one Dr. Pepper soda, and some dried fruit. But that didn't last long.

On the third day, they tried to paddle home with pieces of wood. Exhausted, they gave up and drifted back to the island. Their fiberglass boat then broke up on the rocks, Rangel said.

Besides the snails and grasshoppers, they ate other bugs and crabs. Rangel says they caught some fish by surf casting with the one rod they saved after they wrecked their boat.

As Mexican authorities searched, his wife feared the worst.

"I thought he was dead," Margaret Rangel said. "After 72 hours, I didn't think there was a chance."

Eventually, the castaways, floating on a wood raft, maneuvered along the shore to the island's northern tip to be more visible. Fishermen found the two survivors early Tuesday, 13 days after they set off from the ship.

Rangel, who expects to be released from the hospital Monday, may file a lawsuit against the company that sold him the trip.

"I just have to gather my thoughts and see what happens," he said.

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