A Nova Scotia-based ship carrying dozens of students has sunk off Brazil, but everyone is safe, officials say.
The tall ship
SV Concordia went down about 550 kilometres southeast of Rio de Janeiro in rough seas, Brazilian navy officials said Friday.
West Island College, of Lunenburg, which runs the Class Afloat program, said all 64 people aboard were rescued from four life rafts by merchant vessels in the area.
The drama on the high seas began Thursday around 8 a.m. AT, when Brazilian search authorities received a distress signal from the 57-metre ship. They contacted the rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax, which alerted the school.
Terry Davies, spokesman for Class Afloat, said his group tried in vain to contact the ship by email and satellite phone.
"We were finally able to confirm last night at 8 o'clock that the Brazilian authorities were sending their folks to the last reported co-ordinates," he told CBC.
Davies said he had few details and didn't know what happened.
Did you have a relative aboard Concordia? Contact the DFAIT emergency operations centre for information: 1-800-387-3124
"I haven't spoken to anyone from our vessel, nor has anyone in Halifax," he said. "We just simply don't know."
It has been a terrifying time for parents.
Shelley Piller, whose daughter Alicia was aboard Concordia, said she heard from school officials late Thursday night that the ship had sunk and everyone spent 18 hours in life rafts.
"We were just absolutely horrified and we've been up all night," Piller told CBC News from her home in Kenilworth, Ont.
Brazil's navy said its military plane spotted the life rafts three hours after picking up the distress signal. By the time a navy rescue ship arrived, all Concordia passengers and crew had been plucked to safety by the merchant vessels.
The navy said it was told by the Concordia crew that their ship capsized in rough and high seas.
The school, however, said it didn't know the status of its vessel.
The tall ship left Lunenburg last September carrying students in Grades 11 and 12 and first-year university. Most are Canadian, with others coming from the U.S., Mexico, Japan and other countries. The floating school had been expected in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Thursday.
The Concordia was built in 1992. It meets "all of the international requirements for safety" and passed inspections by the U.S. and Canadian coast guards, the school's website states.
Davies said students are required to take part in abandon-ship drills regularly.
Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon thanked Brazilian authorities, saying they led the search and rescue operation and "acted swiftly" to help Concordia and its passengers.
Davies said all those rescued would be transferred to a Brazilian navy vessel, then brought ashore.
With files from The Associated Press
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