Missing Hall Beach snowmobilers found

Woman and boy stayed in igloo while man went for help

Last Updated: Friday, November 16, 2007 | 12:27 PM CT

CBC News

A family of snowmobilers from Hall Beach, Nunavut, were found safe near Igloolik Thursday, after several days of extensive air and ground searches.

Laimiki Innuarak, 63, his wife, Rachel Aglak, 60, and four-year-old Noah Aglak had been missing since Saturday.

Igloolik is 70 kilometres north of Hall Beach. Both communities are on the eastern coast of the Melville Peninsula.
(CBC)

The three had left Hall Beach that evening on a snowmobile trip to Igloolik, located 70 kilometres north. They were supposed to arrive later that evening.

Officials at the Joint Rescue and Co-ordination Centre in Trenton, Ont., told CBC News on Friday that they were found Thursday evening.

Lucassie Ivalu, who heads the local search and rescue organization in Igloolik, told CBC News on Friday that the trio became stranded after their snowmobile broke down en route. At the time, they were also hauling a qamotik, or sled.

Ivalu said Innuarak was found walking alone around 5 p.m. ET Thursday, about 30 kilometres away from Igloolik.

Innuarak told ground searchers where to find his family, and the remaining two were found in an igloo they had taken shelter in while he went to find help.

"When he left his wife and little four-year old boy, they were in an igloo, and they had a little bit of something to eat and a ... little lamp to keep the igloo warm," Ivalu said.

"Because it took us so long to look for him, you know, I guess he decided that his best chance would be for him to walk over towards Igloolik."

All were brought safely to Igloolik Thursday night.

The hamlet of Hall Beach is on the eastern coast of the Melville Peninsula, an arm of land that juts up from the northwest corner of Hudson Bay toward Baffin Island, and Igloolik is on an island just off the coast.

When the sea ice is frozen, the trip along a trail well-marked by empty barrels takes no more than a couple hours. But open water and soft ice forced the trio to take a longer and more roundabout route.

When the three did not arrive, people in Hall Beach and Igloolik began searching the area on snowmobiles.

On Wednesday, they were joined by a search-and-rescue Hercules aircraft and a small plane donated by a mining company working in the area. But high winds and blowing snow forced the Hercules to land in Iqaluit, about 750 kilometres southeast.

Both aircraft began searching again Thursday morning. Four snowmobile teams that spent Wednesday night camped on the land were also back on the job that day, to make the best use of the four- or five-hour window of daylight available.