A 20-year-old Nunavut man who jumped to his death from an airplane flying at 23,000 feet Wednesday was sent to a Yellowknife hospital earlier that day showing signs of depression, RCMP say.

Police identified the man Friday as Julien Tologanak of Cambridge Bay in western Nunavut.

Tologanak was a passenger on an Adlair Aviation charter flight that travelled Wednesday from Yellowknife when about 180 kilometres from Cambridge Bay, he forced open the aircraft's exit door and jumped out, despite efforts by the pilots to calm him.

At the time, the King Air 200 turboprop aircraft was flying at an altitude of 23,000 feet, or about 7,000 metres.

In need of medical help

Friends and family members of Tologanak told CBC News that the young man had been in Yellowknife since this past weekend to play in a hockey tournament with a team from Kugluktuk.

Yellowknife RCMP said they were called to a hotel in the N.W.T. capital early Wednesday morning, where they found Tologanak showing signs of depression.

"The members that were involved determined that he needed some medical attention — obvious issues with the depression and stuff," Sgt. Wayne Norris told CBC News on Friday afternoon.

"At that point in time, that individual was transported to the Yellowknife hospital and he was turned over to medical professionals."

Not a medical charter flight

Later that same day, Tologanak was put on an Adlair Aviation flight from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay.

But contrary to previous reports, Tologanak was not on board a medical charter flight. Adlair general manager Paul Laserich told CBC News the airline had agreed to fly Tologanak home as a favour to his family.

Laserich said the man's distraught mother called him on Tuesday evening, saying her son had been beaten up in Yellowknife.

"She asked me to bring him home to Cambridge Bay. Having the aircraft here in town, I checked with her the next day [and] she said he was in the hospital," Laserich recalled.

"Got a call from the hospital saying that the young fellow had to go home to be with his mother right away. We had an airplane available. We put the passenger on our airplane."

It was on that flight, around 4:30 p.m. MT Wednesday, that the plane's pilots sent a distress call, indicating an in-flight emergency.

Search continues for body

When the plane landed in Cambridge Bay, where local RCMP met them, the pilots said Tologanak had jumped from the aircraft.

To date, police have searched an area about 160 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay without finding any trace of Tologanak's body.

The incident is under investigation by the RCMP and Nunavut's coroner's office.

Transport Canada has said there were no safety failures with the aircraft's door, and it will not investigate the case.