Residents of Inuvik, N.W.T., struggled to come to terms Monday with a family boating accident that claimed the lives of a B.C. woman and her daughter, while family and community members continue to search for two men also believed to be dead.

Volunteers are still searching for Victor Allen, seen dancing with his granddaughter at National Aboriginal Day celebrations in Inuvik on June 21. (Philippe Morin/CBC)

RCMP in the western Arctic town of 3,500 suspended their official search Monday for Inuvik elder Victor Allen, 80, and Isaac Shingatok, 40, who were reported missing on Thursday. Their boat was swamped by large waves while they travelled to an Inuvialuit beluga whale hunt on the Beaufort Sea coast.

"We were just going to have to wait and let nature take its course, see if the river gave up the remains," said Staff Sgt. Bill Eubank, head of the RCMP in Inuvik. "That is what the family and community volunteers up there are doing now."

Allen and Shingatok are believed to have died after their boat was swamped by large waves on the Mackenzie River. The bodies of Allen's daughter Delma Kisoun and her seven-year-old daughter Asta Kisoun-Hind, both of Chilliwack, B.C., were pulled out of the river Friday afternoon, after an extensive air and ground search.

Peyton Kisoun-Hind, 13, is believed to be the only survivor of the accident. He is currently recovering with relatives in Inuvik.

Eubank told CBC News on Monday morning that the decision to call off the official search came after more than two days of rescue efforts in the relatively small search area.

Eubank said family and community members will continue to search for the men.

Family was headed to traditional hunt

The volunteer searchers have set up camps along the river about 70 kilometres north of Inuvik, in the area where the first two bodies were found on Friday.

Eubank said RCMP are offering logistical help.

Asta Kisoun-Hind, 7, left, seen in a photo from the social networking website Bebo, died in a boating accident last week. Her brother, Peyton Kisoun-Hind, 13, survived the accident. (Bebo.com)

The five relatives were on their way to a traditional Inuvialuit beluga whale hunting camp on the Beaufort Sea coast, about 160 kilometres north of Inuvik, when the accident happened.

Peyton Kisoun-Hind told police that the group ran into rough weather, and two large waves swamped their 5.5-metre aluminum boat, throwing all five into the water.

Eubank said Peyton, who was unharmed, swam to shore and spent a day and a half alone in the bush before being rescued.

"The crew walked up to him. He was sitting quietly on the shore," Eubank said, adding that as a searcher approached, Peyton "very politely asked the fellow if he could hitch a ride back to Inuvik."

The group was last seen by others on Wednesday night at a camp on the river, about 97 kilometres north of Inuvik, in the western Arctic. They were reported missing Thursday night, when they did not arrive at the whaling camp as expected.

'It just feels like the ocean'

The five were seen Wednesday night at a camp on the Mackenzie River, about 97 kilometres north of Inuvik, N.W.T. (CBC)

In Inuvik, friends of Allen spent Monday wondering how the river could have claimed a well-known elder with a lifetime of outdoor experience.

"I remember it was quite windy … on that day, when there was a lot of clouds and it was quite dark," elder John Holman said, recalling conditions on the Mackenzie River on Thursday.

"If I was given a chance to travel or not travel, I wouldn't travel that day."

Holman was one of the first to go looking for Allen's group, after he received a call Thursday night that they were missing. Allen was always very conscious of water safety, he said.

At the same time, Holman said, the area where the accident occurred is known to be a treacherous part of the river.

"It's very, very vast. The river gets wider and wider," he said. "If you're in a boat, it just feels like the ocean."