Search comes to successful conclusion
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Kugluktuk (Mar 26/01) - Two men who were missing south of Kugluktuk for almost three days were located alive and well Thursday afternoon.
Jim Graham, 39 of Chilliwack, B.C., and Kevin White, 41 of Cold Lake, Ab., were located at 12:15 p.m. on March 22. They were reported to be in good health and were taken to Kugluktuk to be examined by a physician.
Travelling together on one snowmobile in poor weather, the employees of Muskox Minerals left the McGregor Lake mining camp at 7 p.m. on March 19. They were headed for a drilling camp located approximately two-and-a-half kilometres away.
"That's how fast you can get lost," said Fred Cornelssen, a member of Kugluktuk's Search and rescue Society. That organization became involved in the search Wednesday afternoon when officials with Muskox Minerals requested assistance with the search.
"I haven't talked to them yet or had a chance to debrief the guys from the search crew, but it looks like from where they were found, they missed the drill camp. They just went right by it," he said.
Cornelssen said while the weather was "nasty," he didn't doubt that the men would be found alive.
"They were well-dressed and while they didn't have any camping gear, they had their lunch and their thermoses. I knew if they were smart enough and stayed out of the wind and stayed put, we'd find them," he said.
Muskox employees and RCMP members were also involved in the search, although it was two members of the society who located the men.
"Colin Adjun and Peter Taktogon located them down on the Coppermine River south of the camp," said Cornelssen.
A First Air Twin Otter aircraft was also chartered by the mining company and flew search officials into the area to set up a search camp.
Cornelssen he wanted to encourage other companies in the area to contact the society when the need for a search arose.
"We need to get the word out there and let companies know that we can be contacted and that we're here to help," he said.
