Inquest into drowning
Man drowns while in prison custody

Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 01/98) - An inquest is being called into the drowning death of a Cape Dorset man Friday afternoon at Long Lake.

Etuk Qavavau, 24, was working with four other Yellowknife Correctional Centre prisoners at Fred Henne Park under the supervision of YCC guards, who allowed them to take a swim.

A coroner's inquest is mandatory under territorial law because the man died while in custody, said Percy Kinney, NWT's chief coroner.

When the inquiry will be carried out is not certain, however.

"The coroner (Garth Eggenberger) has to complete his investigation and get all the pertinent information together so we can review it and see what kind of witnesses we want to call and things like that," said Kinney.

The Yellowknife fire department was called to Long Lake on Friday afternoon to locate Qavavau, who was last seen about 10 metres from shore not far from the boat launch.

Rescue crews used a modified extrication tool shaped like a grapnel which was thrown from their boat and dragged along the lake bottom to find the body. After about 45 minutes, Arctic Divers arrived on scene, and located the body with little difficulty.

Qavavau, described as five foot five and 180 pounds, was still warm when his body was found. He was rushed to shore where rescue crews immediately began CPR but a blocked air passage, perhaps due to collapsed voice box, made resuscitation difficult. All attempts to revive him failed.

He was taken to a waiting ambulance and driven to Stanton Regional Hospital for further examination.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Grundy called the death an unfortunate accident.

"They were out there cleaning, which they always do, and it was really hot and sticky," said Grundy.

"They just asked if they could go for a swim ... and the guard said, 'Sure,' which is not out of the ordinary."

Qavavau appeared to have drowned in about six metres of water.

"I believe they were all non-swimmers. They weren't really out to have a swim. They were actually just in the water to get cooled off," said Grundy.

This coroner's inquest is expected to be somewhat time-consuming, said Kinney. It probably won't be held until this fall, at the earliest.