Arviat (Feb 20/06) - Two people from Arviat died in a blizzard last week trying to reach Rankin Inlet by snowmobile.

Moses Kinniksi, 25, and Lillian Otuk, 21, left Arviat during the afternoon hours of Feb. 10. Police were told by family members that they were on their way to the Saturday night bingo.

The two were pulling a qamutiik full of supplies that included three tarps, caribou skins, food, fuel and a rifle.

The Arviat detachment of the RCMP received a call at about 5 p.m. on Feb. 11, indicating the two had not arrived in Rankin.

An initial search-and-rescue operation involving volunteers from Arviat, Rankin and Whale Cove, as well as RCMP officers from Arviat and Rankin, was hampered by blizzard conditions.

Cpl. Greg Sutherland of the Arviat RCMP said a full ground search was able to commence on the evening of Feb. 13, and the pair's abandoned snowmobile and qamutiik were quickly located about 48 km north of Arviat.

An intensive air search began the next day involving a civilian and RCMP aircraft, and a Hercules military plane out of Winnipeg.

The bodies of Kinniksi and Otuk were recovered later that day.

"We're waiting for the results of an inspection on the machine, but, based on the evidence, it looks like they ran into some type of mechanical problem, left the machine and tried to walk back to Arviat," said Sutherland.

"The only thing they took with them was a rifle."

The pair were able to walk more than 22 km towards Arviat before succumbing to conditions. Sutherland said the weather wasn't too bad when Kinniksi and Otuk left Arviat and, judging by the distance they covered, the blizzard probably still hadn't struck when they made the decision to walk back to the community.

"It's hard to reason they could have walked 22 km in a blizzard without survival gear, so the weather was probably still OK when they started to walk back.

"She (Otuk) made it back a little further than he (Kinniksi) did."

Sutherland said people in the community are in shock and upset over the tragedy.

"This was our first three-day blizzard and they ran into trouble at the front of it."