The Canadian students who survived the sinking of a Nova Scotia-based sailing ship off Brazil are back home.

An Air Canada flight carrying the 42 students from Sao Paulo arrived at 5:43 a.m. ET Monday at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, where many were being greeted by relieved parents, including David Aftergood.

Friends and family of 42 Canadian students whose teaching vessel sunk off the coast of Brazil on Wednesday wait for them at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Monday morning. (Dave Seglins/CBC)

The Calgary man had waited anxiously in a specially designated arrival section to greet his 16-year-old daughter Olivia.

As soon as he saw her, "I told her I loved her," Aftergood told CBC News. "I hugged her and I was happy to see her."

The waiting had been "excruciating," said Aftergood. "The whole ordeal has been beyond belief.

"But the end of it was just amazing, exciting, wonderful news and we are just very, very happy to have her back."

Olivia said she "couldn't wait" to see her family, but she acknowledged it had been hard to say goodbye to her fellow students.

"I think I have gotten closer to these people than I have gotten close to anybody, and they mean so much to me," Olivia told CBC News.

When asked how it felt to be home, she said "It's cold."

Airport officials were expected to take some time to process the students, whose original documentation would have been lost when their ship sank.

From Toronto, they're expected to travel on to their homes, which stretch from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, and north to the Yukon.

Emotional departure from Brazil

The students left Sao Paulo on Sunday.

Tears streamed down the faces of many of them as they said goodbye Sunday to the other survivors. Altogether, 64 students, teachers and crew survived the sinking. Many were too overcome to speak.

"I'm pretty excited to go home," one managed to utter.

There is already talk of having a reunion in a couple of weeks.

The students were part of West Island College Class Afloat program of Lunenburg, N.S.. They had left Canada in September to spend a semester at sea.

Their sailing vessel, SV Concordia, capsized about noon Wednesday after being caught in a microburst — a rare and sudden downdraft of air in a small area.

The 57.5-metre steel vessel sank within 20 minutes, but all 48 students, eight teachers and eight crew were able to get into life-rafts.

They spent up to 40 hours on the South Atlantic amid strong winds, heavy rain and waves up to four metres high, collecting rainwater to drink and keeping lookout for rescuers.

Nigel McCarthy, president and CEO of the school's Class Afloat program, said he's looking forward to an investigation into the ship's sinking, particularly to learn the details of the response by Brazilian authorities.

With files from The Canadian Press