At one point, 17-year-old David Gunn thought he was going to die.
Yesterday he arrived home safe with his family in Calgary after spending 42 hours in the Atlantic Ocean on a life raft.
His mother, Holly, said it’s a miracle he’s alive after the tall ship Gunn and 63 others were travelling aboard capsized Friday and went down off the coast of Brazil during a school-based naval excursion.
“Well, we didn’t see anything for (42 hours), so I kind of thought I was going to die. After we saw the planes it was a huge relief. I have never felt anything better in my life,” Gunn, a student at West Island College, told reporters.
Gunn said students were overcome with varying emotions during the ordeal.
“At first we were super upbeat to be alive, but as it went on and on and on … morale started to deplete.”
Gunn intends to spend time with his friends and family now that he is home, and said he is “just happy to be alive.”
Brazilian Coast Guard boats eventually rescued the group after the tall ship sank 550 kilometres from Rio De Janeiro.
“We knew they were safe … but we also knew they were still in the middle of the Atlantic,” Holly said.
“It is a miracle, very much so.”
Students arrived in Toronto early yesterday morning and then flew into Calgary at various times yesterday.
