Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Nov 17/99) - The first Kivalliq search and rescue effort of the blizzard season ended on a happy note.

A group of three men in their 20s left Rankin Inlet on Sunday, Nov. 7, for a day of caribou hunting.

SAR committee member David Ningeongan says brothers, Sandy and Chris Papak, and Joe Kannak only had one machine on their trip.

He says their machine broke down just before last week's first blizzard hit the region.

"Our chairperson, Jack Kabvitok, called me about 9:30 p.m. that Sunday evening and I immediately called the SAR committee.

"At about 8:45 a.m., three people left Rankin and made it to Diane River and checked out a few cabins there."

The blizzard intensified and forced the first group of SAR members to wait out the storm at Diane Lake.

Low fuel forced them to head back towards Rankin about 8 p.m. Monday evening.

"Four more SAR members had left Rankin at about the same time and the two groups met at the river.

"The storm forced group two to play a waiting game, too, because the visibility was very bad."

The three hunters were found Tuesday morning at Diane Lake when rescuers were able to resume their efforts.

Ningeongan says the hunters' safe rescue was probably made possible because they had already caught two caribou before the storm hit.

In addition to providing them with food, the three were able to use the caribou skins to keep warm.

"They had no grub or Coleman stove. They had, really, nothing with them other than a domed tent and a box on their sled.

"They weren't really prepared to be out there."

Ningeongan says another important factor in the successful rescue was that the three stayed with their machine.

"They had no way of having heat, so staying put with the skins helped them survive until we got there."

The local SAR committee made sure there was at least one older person in the search groups who had knowledge of the land and plenty of experience.

Ningeongan says the committee was also able to arrange for a 206 aircraft from Skyward Aviation Ltd. to help with the search Tuesday morning.

"It was a good effort by everyone involved to make this a successful search.

"I'd like to thank all the people who helped the SAR effort, especially the committee members who stayed up all night while our rescuers were out there."