LUNENBURG - On February 18 at 0800 AST the Brazilian Search and Rescue Coordination Centre contacted the Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre to report a distress signal received from the Class Afloat school ship Concordia. Class Afloat offers an accredited high school and university program based aboard Concordia. The vessel was en route between Recife, Brazil and Montevideo, Uruguay as part of a 10-month voyage. Sixty-four (64) persons were aboard.
The Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre contacted Class Afloat’s offices at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, to report Concordia’s distress signal. The Class Afloat staff attempted to contact the vessel by email and satellite phone but were unsuccessful.
Throughout the day ongoing attempts were made to reach the vessel by all communication methods available. The Brazilian Search & Rescue and Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre tracked the distress signal throughout the day. The vessel’s last reported position was 300 nautical miles off the coast of Brazil southeast of Rio de Janeiro. Search & rescue vessels and aircraft were deployed to the coordinates of the emergency beacon.
At 20:00 on the 18th, Brazilian Air Search & Rescue aircraft reported the sighting of a safety boat & four life rafts in the water with people aboard. The stuatus of the Concordia is currently unknown.
The MRCC in Rio has today advised that all persons on board the Concordia have been accounted for. This message has been confirmed by our Captain.
We are in constant contact with the Canadian and Brazilian rescue authorities and have been in touch with the families of those on board the Concordia. All necessary assistance will be provided to ensure that they are properly taken care of and safely repatriated as soon as practicable.
Contact: Class Afloat – 902-634-1895