The 64 passengers and crew of the Canadian tall ship, SV Concordia which had served as a floating classroom for many Calgarian students were stranded on rafts in the Atlantic Ocean after their vessel sank off the coast of Brazil.
There were no casualties, no one was lost and only one injury was reported. After spending over two weeks at sea, the tall ship began having trouble over 300 miles off the coast of Rio de Janeiro Thursday. Soon after, the ship ship was hit by very violent winds that came on suddenly, causing it to go under in around 20 minutes. They spent many hours holding on to the ship’s life rafts for dear life until a rescue could be made.

The tall ship was on the ocean as part of the International’s Class Afloat program run by West Island College in Lunenburg, N.S. which has been pioneering the program to expand educational interests of high school and college level students. Coming to the rescue of the students, a Brazilian air force aircraft was the first to spot them when their distress signal was being acted upon. The C-130 Hercules aircraft was able to locate the Zodiac boat and life rafts and ships in the area were notified.

Two of the ships notified, Brazilian merchant marine vessels then rescued all 64 of the crew and passengers after their spending over 12 hours in the water, nearly two days after the ship began having trouble.

All Calgarian Students And Crew Rescued After School Ship Sinks