Stranded by blizzard for four days
Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Pangnirtung (May 07/01) - When Josie Nuvaqiq arrived home holding her newborn daughter, her heart sank. Searchers were looking for her husband, Mosesie, who had left her bedside in Iqaluit two days earlier.
The potentially tragic story ended happily when Mosesie, 55, and his snowmobile were located just south of Little Channel April 21.
"Everybody was happy he was found alive," Josie said.
Now back at home, Josie translated the ordeal with her husband nearby.
Mosesie survived alone four days in whiteout conditions and howling winds by building an iglu and rationing his tea and store-bought food. Other than an agonizing chin abrasion sustained after plunging down a five-metre cliff, he was unharmed.
Had the blizzard not set in, the trip would have taken one day. At no point did he run out of gas.
"He had his winter supplies but no traditional food. He was well prepared," Josie said.
Mosesie left Iqaluit April 17 under sunny skies. He had been visiting Josie, who gave birth to their third child, Tia, five days earlier.
When the experienced hunter had not returned to Pangnirtung by the following night, Josie, still in Iqaluit, began to worry. She learned of the search moments after she and their three young children arrived in Pangnirtung.
"It was a shock," she said. "I wasn't able to sleep for three nights."
By April 20, Iqaluit RCMP and Nunavut Emergency Management had launched an all-out search for Mosesie.
Mosesie was spotted from an RCMP aircraft the afternoon of April 21. A nearby Canadian Helicopters helicopter picked him up took him to Iqaluit. Two days later he and his wife were reunited at the Pangnirtung airport.
"Thank God he was found safe," Josie said.
"I want to thank everybody who helped look for him."
Mosesie said he worried more about his young family than himself.
Eric Doig, Nunavut Emergency Services, credited Mosesie for being prepared.
"He would have been okay. Eventually he would have been able to get back to the main trail," Doig said.
Mosesie planned to collect his machine and qamutiq late last week.
