Cambridge Bay Teens freeze on short snowmobile trip
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Cambridge Bay (May 02/01) - Students from Cambridge Bay are expressing their grief in different ways today after two of their classmates were found frozen to death on the sea ice Monday.
"There are some kids who are very emotional and some who are very stoic," explained Kiilinik high school principal Elliot Johnson. "But we are trying to maintain things as normal as possible."
Justin Mingilgak, 15, and Kyle Komaksiut, 14, hopped on a snowmobile Sunday, heading for a cabin just outside town along the bay.
That is where they were last seen, just before winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour began to pelt the area with flying snow, blocking visibility at five feet.
The storm continued through the night. At 9 a.m. local searchers were sent out, despite howling winds that made the search difficult and slow-going.
At 8 p.m. the two bodies were finally found 15 kilometres south of Cambridge Bay on the sea ice.
"They were lost," said Sgt. Gary Peck of the Cambridge Bay RCMP. "The cabin was not even close to where they were found."
Peck said that, after the storm subsided and the snowmachine tracks were found, it became apparent the boys were travelling in circles.
"They were dressed in blue jeans, running shoes and light jackets," Peck explained. "They were not prepared and that was the main factor. Alcohol was not believed to have been involved."
As well as being unprepared, the boys were also risky, Peck said.
"When they started out is was blowing," he said. "They obviously felt they could get there and got turned around.
"It's really something that hits home," he added. "You can tell by the emotion in the community that they were well-liked."
Now the community is feeling the stinging effects of the tragedy. Peck said an emergency measures unit from Iqaluit is expected to visit Cambridge Bay and offer support to the searchers.
Social workers are going into classrooms and talking to the boys' friends and classmates.
"The students are asking if they can write things like poems and put them on a memory board," Johnson said. "We are hanging tough."
