Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Monday, June 4, 2007

PANGNIRTUNG - Locked in place by ice, three Pangnirtung hunters waited patiently in a boat for conditions to improve, unaware that their families at home were increasingly worried about their welfare over three days.

A helicopter picked up two of the men on May 24 after a search crew in a twin otter spotted them approximately 35 kilometres from the community. The third man, the owner of the 24-foot canoe with a 50-horsepower outboard motor, chose to stay with his boat. By May 27 he was finally able to reach Kekerten Island, where others awaited him at a whaling camp.

"We didn't even think that they were worrying about us," stranded hunter Jason Arnakak said of the level of concern in Pangnirtung. "They thought we were flipped over because nobody could see us from from Kekerten."

He said he and Mosesee Akulujuk and boat owner Jimmy Unuikshagak were blown off course by high winds and then found themselves stuck in some ice. Undaunted, they slept in the boat and they had enough food and water to last them a few more days, said Arnakak, 30.

"We were going to wait for it to clear up," he said. "It was all right, a 24-foot canoe is good enough (to survive in)...we weren't planning to walk away from the boat."

Jutanie Arnakak, Jason's brother, confirmed that the days of not knowing the men's fate were stressful.

"Yeah, all the family, we were worried for a bit, then they (the rescue party) gave us a phone call and we calmed down," Jutanie said.

The search effort included the Pangnirtung search and rescue committee, the Emergency Measures Organization in Iqaluit and the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax, which dispatched two Hercules airplanes and a Cormorant helicopter. The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association in Iqaluit sent up the twin otter at JRCC's request.

Capt. Pete Savage, duty air co-ordinator with JRCC, said the search operation will be covered through JRCC's budget and there should be no charges to the Hamlet of Pangnirtung.

Despite the incident, Jason Arnakak said he won't hesitate to go back out on the water. Venturing out by snowmobile will be more difficult, however, because he said his was submerged when the ice on the floe edge broke up while he was stranded.

"It's gone," he said of his snow machine.