Residents in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, are warning snowmobilers against driving their snow machines over open water, while they mourn a longtime resident who died doing that over the weekend.

On Sunday, Harry Aviak was "water skipping" with his snowmobile across water on Heart Lake near the hamlet, located 430 kilometres west of Cambridge Bay in western Nunavut.

Local RCMP Sgt. Chris Bewsher told CBC News that 75 to 100 people were watching the 45-year-old from the shore when his snowmobile began to sink. Bewsher said he isn't sure how Aviak's machine stopped working.

"Mr. Aviak was an avid operator of a snowmobile in the community. He was well-known for skipping great distances on a snowmobile across open water, and he was quite good at it," Bewsher said Tuesday.

"But for some reason, either the snowmobile malfunctioned or he could have run out of gas. We really don't know at this point in this investigation as to why the snowmobile stopped."

Aviak tried to swim, but succumbed to the cold water before any of the onlookers could save him. Bewsher said Aviak was not wearing a lifejacket or water skipping over shallow water at the time of the incident, and there were no rescue boats standing by.

Aviak, who leaves behind his wife and a number of children and grandchildren, was a welder and labourer for mining companies and a longtime resident of the hamlet of 1,300, said Linda Allen, Kugluktuk's senior administrative officer.

"People are grieving and feeling the loss very much," Allen said. "It's a small community and something like this affects everybody."

Alcohol was not a factor in Aviak's death, said Allen, who added that people should take precautions when water skipping.

"Plan on the safe side. Have life jackets and a boat available. If something does go wrong, it won't be fatal," she said. "Life is fragile and we need to protect it."

Bewsher went further, recommending people not use snowmobiles to skip across open water at all. Even good snowmobile drivers can get into dangerous situations, he warned.

"The activity he was engaged in was a risky activity," he said. "Snowmobiles are not meant and designed to skip across open water."

A funeral for Aviak has not yet been planned.