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IQALUIT
The search for missing Iqaluit hunter Pauloosie Qaunirq ended tragically Feb. 4 after searchers located two bodies: that of Qaunirq, 27, and an 18-year Iqaluit woman whose name police and coroner's office have not released by family request.

Qaunirq was last seen Friday Feb. 1 around noon when he is believed to have gone hunting. A blizzard blew through the area that evening and Qaunirq's family began searching for him after he did not return the following day.

On Feb. 3, a 50-person search and rescue committee along with the help of RCMP fanned out around the harbour and Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park area. That night the pair's qamutik was located, and shortly after 10 a.m. the following morning, their bodies were recovered along with a snowmobile, roughly four kilometres north of Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park.

They were almost completely covered in snow, according to Jimmy Akavak, who organized the search.

"The community came together once again," said Akavak. "Thank you to the families that let their spouses go out searching at night or any time of the day and thank you Baffin Deli and Northmart for their food donations."

Police are reminding people who head out on the land to check weather forecasts, always bring a GPS or SPOT device, bring supplies to survive overnight and inform others where they are going and when they will return.

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