Deputy mayor stranded for two days
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Feb 26/01) - Iqaluit deputy mayor Simon Nattaq was recovering in hospital last week after being stranded for two days about 29 kilometres from Iqaluit.
Nattaq went hunting alone Feb. 17. Town councillor Glen Williams said the seasoned hunter told him that at about 10 a.m. that morning, his snowmachine started sinking in water, so Nattaq jumped off.
"He lost everything, all his supplies," Williams said. "He had nothing."
Nattaq took off his caribou-skin clothing in the bitter -38 C cold and wrung them out. He put his clothing back on as best he could and walked for eight kilometres.
When it began to get dark he covered himself in soft snow. He slept there the first night.
The next morning he walked nine kilometres, along a snowmobile trail, to a cabin. He stayed there for more than 24 hours until he was found the afternoon of Feb. 19 by Iqaluit municipal search and rescue team, which included Williams.
"I was praying for strength and not to be thirsty," Nattaq said, through a translator. "I'm thankful that I'm here."
Rescue mission
Searchers thought Nattaq was heading to Hamlin Bay, located about 93 kilometres southeast of Iqaluit, and a search party was sent there the night of Feb. 18.
"They searched all night and called back early in the morning to say there was no sign of anyone having been in that area," Williams said.
He and Tommy Inookee went out searching early on Feb. 19.
While planes buzzed overhead and different snowmobile teams searched in other areas, Williams and Inookee followed the Polaris track until it disappeared into footprints. The footprints belonged to someone wearing the same footwear at Nattaq -- kamiks.
The search co-ordinator was notified and planes zeroed in on the area. A short time later, Williams and Inookee were told Nattaq had been found, and they rushed to the Outward Bound cabin in Lewis Bay.
"He just looked very, very tired," Williams said.
"He told us his feet were frozen and he had a bit of frostbite on his fingers and face."
Recovering from frostbite
Nattaq has third-degree frostbite on his feet.
His feet were bound in white gauze as he sat propped up in his hospital bed at Baffin Regional Hospital.
His family and friends were gathered around him, thankful he was rescued.
"I feel fine now that I'm in a warm place," he said.
"If he looks like he is going to lose them (feet) they'll send him to Ottawa," Williams said. "He's still here so that's a good sign."
