By David MacDonald
david@peicanada.com

A Montague native is among the 64 passengers who were rescued from the SV Concordia student ship which sunk off the waters off of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday.
Heather Fitzpatrick, a teacher for West Island College Class Afloat, based out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, was among a group of 64 staff and students sailing between Brazil and Uraguay.
The incident took place when the Brazilian Search and Rescue Coordination Centre received a distress signal from the Concordia Thursday morning. Both Brazillian Search and Rescue and Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre tracked the distress signal throughout the day, with Brazilian search and rescue vessels and aircraft deployed to the location, about 300 nautical miles off the Brazilian coast.
Brazilian crews reported the sighting of a safety boat and four life rafts with people on board. All 64 passengers were accounted for.
Heather’s mother Mary Fitzpatrick said she hasn’t heard directly from her daughter, but she spoke to Kate Knight, the head of West Island College, who told her everyone was returning to Rio.
“Once they reach port, they will go to the hospital to be assessed,” Ms Fitzpatrick said. “They don’t think anyone was hurt, there were a couple of minor injuries. Once they get into port, we’ll probably hear from Heather.”
This was Ms Fitzpatrick’s first year with the college. She has been teaching marine biology, business and pyschology onboard the ship since September as it sailed around the world.
“She’s an adventurous type,” her mother said. “She likes what she does and has a marvellous time going to different places.”