SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A truck that took a trip to the bottom of Yellowknife Bay near Jolliffe Island is high and dry again thanks to the speedy work of residents, according to Brian Abbott.

This pickup truck spent Monday night under the surface of Yellowknife Bay - near Jolliffe Island - before a crew of residents arrived on Tuesday to pull it free. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

The owner of Great Slave Fish Products - operating a fish processing barge across from Government Dock - said he doesn't know his next-door neighbour, but noticed he had to do some quick work to pull his pickup truck out of the water on Tuesday.

Abbott said his neighbour put one tire through the ice sometime last week and put an orange pylon on the hole to mark the spot. Abbott said the man's wife - who took the truck out to run errands - didn't notice the pylon and so put two tires through the hole when she returned.

"It went to the bottom after that," said Abbott, adding only one corner of the driver's cab was clear of the ice. "He did the right thing though. He got his friends over and they pulled it out."

Abbott said he saw the salvage crew using winches and chainsaws to drag the truck out of its icy tomb.

On Tuesday morning the truck sat on the shore covered in snow and ice. Abbott said he's sure the truck is a writeoff. He said the neighbours are new on Jolliffe Island and perhaps haven't learned where it's safe to park a truck overnight. Abbott said the spot where the truck sank is always the first place to thaw in the springtime.

"He's a nice guy," he said. "But I'm glad it wasn't me."

Dennis Marchiori, the city's director of public safety, and Doug Gillard, manager of Municipal Enforcement Division (MED) stated in e-mails that MED officers did not attend the site of

the sunken truck. RCMP spokesperson Const. Elenore Sturko told Yellowknifer she could not "find a file associated with that occurance."

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