Maritime Casualties-- February 25, 2010
School ship sinks off Brazil and US Navy helps tanker thwart pirate attack.
• Canadian Students Rescued after School Ship Sinks
A vessel which seconds as a classroom, sank 500 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro while carrying a mix of high school and first year university students, their instructors and professional crew on board.
Cause of the sinking is unknown but the 57.5-metre long vessel, Concordia, sent out a distress call which drew in rescuers to the area. All boarded life rafts were picked up 2 days later by 3 passing merchant ships and safely transferred all passengers and crew to a Brazilian navy ship and taken ashore.
The West Island College Class Afloat Programme vessel was on a 10 month journey from Recife, Brazil to Montevideo, Uruguay.
• U.S. Navy Stops Attack and Detains Suspects
Eight pirate attack suspects were detained Monday after an attempted attack on the tanker MV Barakaale 1 was successfully thwarted in the Gulf of Aden.
American destroyer USS Farragut dispatched a helicopter to the Tanzanian-flagged tanker, MV Barakaale 1 after it was approached by a pirate skiff. The crew of the tanker enforced defense maneuvers, which resulted in a pirate falling overboard while attempting to board the tanker. The pirates rescued the fallen accomplice and attempted to board a second time, but failed.
The helicopter fired shots across the bow of the skiff causing it to stop and allow a team from the Navy warship to board the skiff and detain its crew.