Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 23/01) - A massive search effort came to a tragic end last Tuesday night when the body of a missing child was located in a small lake in Iqaluit.

Gerry Qiyutaq, 10, had been missing since Sunday, July 15. His body was found in a lake on the Road to No-where at approximately 8 p.m. on July 17.

Neville Wheaton, the director of Iqaluit's emergency and protective services, said he was notified that Qiyutaq was missing at 9 a.m. that day. A search party of 20 people was immediately mobilized and the volunteers spent the day going from house to house, handing out flyers and looking for information.

At the same time, a team of six divers began scouring the lake, the last place Qiyutaq was seen.

"They covered the edges of the lake until 4:20 p.m. Then we got a detailed map of the lake and were going to criss-cross the lake in a different search pattern beginning today (July 18)," said Wheaton.

While 14 firefighters continued the door-to-door search that evening, the RCMP got a call from parents reporting children were swimming in the same lake.

Sgt. Mike O'Malley said at 8 p.m., children told police they thought they'd found Qiyutaq's body. Const. Craig Thur and the director of Nunavut emergency services, Tom Watts, entered the water and confirmed that Qiyutaq had drowned.

O'Malley called the incident accidental and said foul play is not suspected.

However, because no one actually saw Qiyutaq drown, the coroner ordered that an autopsy.

O'Malley also called upon Nunavummiut to watch out for each other more closely and not to turn a blind eye to children playing in dangerous areas.

This is the fifth drowning to occur in Nunavut this month. "There has to be some kind of community responsibility," said O'Malley. "It takes an entire community to raise a child. This is what this is all about."

Qiyutaq would have turned 11 this October. After graduating from Joamie school last month, he was scheduled to attend Aqsarniit middle school in September.

A teacher at Joamie described the boy as being extremely close to his family and a child who enjoyed riding his bike.

She also said he had a good sense of humour.

"He loved fun. He loved to play. He had a good sense of humour," she said.

School counsellor Opah Picco also said Qiyutaq was funny. He was a "nice little boy," she said. "I was sad."