All 64 students and crew aboard a sailing ship that operates as a floating classroom for a Nova Scotia school are safe after a night in lifeboats off the coast of Brazil.
“Everybody is safe,” said a spokesman for the Brazilian Navy on Friday morning. Asked if anyone was sick or injured, he said, “Everybody is fine.”
The S.V. Concordia, a three-masted sailing ship, sank to the bottom of the Atlantic in “hard winds” and swelling waves, he said. “It has gone to the deep.”
The 48 students, eight teachers and eight crew were due in Rio de Janeiro Friday afternoon, he said.
They abandoned ship for lifeboats equipped with blankets and food at 5 p.m. Thursday, Rio time (2 p.m. Toronto time). A Brazilian Navy helicopter spotted them three hours later and dropped medical supplies.
Three merchant ships answered the distress call and reached the lifeboats first.
Three lifeboats carrying about 48 people were rescued by the merchant ship Hokuetsu Delight, said Capt. Cmdr. Maria Emila de Moura Estevao Padilha, communications director of the 1st Naval District.
Naval planes and the tug Sea-Admiral Guillobel remained at the scene where the Concordia sank after the rescue, Estevao Padilha said in a news release.
The life boats are sturdy and safe for the open seas, the spokesman said. The ship sank about 300 nautical miles off the coast of Brazil.
The students were on a course taught by West Island College International, based in Lunenburg, N.S., and had left Recife, Brazil, on the Concordia Feb. 8. They were due in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Tuesday.
Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre helped with logistics after receiving the Concordia’s distress beacon. Kate Knight, head of the school, said everyone was picked up between 4 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Friday morning by Brazil’s Navy.
“They spent a significant amount of time” in the small craft, Knight told CP24. The life rafts are equipped with blankets and food and are designed to keep people safe until a rescue, she said.
The sailors are aboard two Brazilian merchant marine ships en route to Rio, she said.
Maurice Tugwell, a retired Acadia University professor, is among the rescued, his family said Friday morning.
“The Tugwell family were notified last night that the Concordia had sent out a distress signal and we were later notified that everyone aboard the ship had been rescued off the coast of Brazil, after spending several hours in life rafts,” Tugwell’s children posted on his voyage blog.
Knight “ensured everyone was kept up to date with as much information as was available.”
On his blog, Tugwell described an international crew led by Capt. Bill Curry, with an Australian second mate, Polish engineers and an Alaskan ship’s doctor.
West Island College, founded in 1984, provides students from around the world with experience sailing as well as classroom instruction.
The ship was expected to dock in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Tuesday. The voyage was to continue to South Africa.
The Concordia was designed and built for the school’s Class Afloat program in 1992. It is classified as a 100A-1 Yacht, the website said. The crew consists of two officers, two engineers, a bosun, a bosun’s mate, a cook, a cook’s mate and a medical officer.
“Concordia is one of the most sturdy ships on the water,” Pat Grieve, an alumnus of the Class Afloat program of 2003-04 said in an interview.
“It has sailed Cape Horn, the roughest seas in the world. It was not just a ship. For 10 months and 32,000 nautical miles, it was our home.
“The oceans can be very unforgiving,” said Grieve, who lives in Cobourg, Ont. “There is no doubt the crew was more than capable. The training is rigorous and precise.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said of the incident, “All crew and passengers have been recovered and are uninjured. This is good news. I thank Brazilian authorities, who led a search and rescue operation and acted swiftly to assist the ship and its passengers.”
Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Simone MacAndrew said Canadian diplomatic personnel are working with the Brazilian government to monitor and assist with the situation.
She said consular officials are ready to provide assistance to any affected Canadian citizens.
Canadians with friends and relatives who were aboard in can contact the department’s Emergency Operations Centre in Ottawa by calling either 1-800-387-3124 or 1-613-996-8885.
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