Body recovered from sketchy ice
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, May 11, 2015
QAUSUITTUQ/RESOLUTE BAY
A week after the disappearance of two Dutch scientific expedition members near Bathurst Island, a group of Resolute Bay volunteers risked their own lives and succeeded in recovering the body of one of the two men May 7, RCMP stated in a release.
They were unable to find a second man, presumed dead on the island 200 km north of the community.
The men were travelling on the sea ice when they made a distress call to Resolute Bay RCMP April 29. An air search found their expedition equipment and personal items floating in the water at the location of the distress call.
Poor ice conditions and distance led police to consider whether or not to attempt a recovery effort. On May 2, a team of RCMP, local experts and representatives of the Polar Continental Shelf Program decided to send a helicopter to the scene. They were able to recover the dog who was travelling with the men.
Another attempt was made to transport local volunteers to a nearby abandoned airstrip, but that attempt failed due to poor ground conditions.
Volunteers experienced in handling poor sea ice conditions left the hamlet by snowmobile May 6, and arrived the next day.
They were able to recover the man's body, and the conditions on the scene indicated that the other man would have died as well because ice conditions were "very poor," the release stated.
The volunteers were expected to return to Resolute Bay May 8 to turn over the remains to the coroner. It's not known which man's body was recovered.
