Enoki Kunuk
Northern News Services

Iglulik (Feb 11/02) - Last week, with the help of a rope, Kunuk began to pull his friend, floundering in the ice, toward safety.

Ikkarialuk went delirious when he got out of the cold water. He couldn't stand up so I pushed him towards the qamutik to lay him down.

I couldn't take his parka off since it was starting to freeze. Then I remembered again what my father said when he couldn't pull his friend's parka off.

Sikluk said he slit the sleeves down along to the side of the parka and the neck part too. I did the same thing and put something dry on Ikkarialuk's upper body. I also cut up his pants and took his boots off.

I covered Ikkarialuk with a blanket and piled things up on top of him. I put his feet on my belly under my parka. Ikkarialuk's feet were as cold as ice.

I started the stove. Melted some ice and made really strong tea to make Ikkarialuk throw up. I assumed he drank some salt water. I made sure the tea wasn't too hot. I put a sleeping bag on his back and started to make him drink the tea.

Because Ikkarialuk was delirious, he did not want to drink it. I slapped him on the cheek and yelled, "I want you to live!" He seemed to calm down. "Drink it so you can throw up the salt water."

Ikkarialuk drank from the cup until it was empty. Then he lost it! He kept yelling that his family would expect him back but he wouldn't be there. He kept throwing his covers off. I was getting scared of him.

Rope's end

I placed Ikkarialuk's small qamutik on mine, upside down, to make a place for him. I placed a sleeping bag for his pillow. I carried him to the qamutik while he yelled and kicked. I set him on the qamutik, covered him up with his head exposed. I tied him up facing me.

I then picked up our belongings that were scattered all over the ice, along with his frozen clothing and what clothing of mine I had thrown off. I put them on our qamutik.

Then I started out. His dogs had on long ropes so they were going crazy. They went all over the place. I started hitting them with my whip, so then they got scared of me. I headed towards Qiqitarjuak as fast as I could. I kept using my whip and the dogs kept on going. If one of the dogs got tangled up with the gangline, I would cut that particular dog's rope with a knife.

We could see the camp up ahead. The loose dogs wouldn't go ahead of the rest of the team. I would look back to see if Ikkarialuk was still breathing, and he was. When he realized that we were almost at the camp he told me not to hurry anymore. I kept on going at the same pace as we had been. We made it to the camp.

I kept thinking, Ikkarialuk had a mother, a younger brother and an older one. All I had was three sisters. I was going to be very scared if I lost him.

When I think back to the incident, I am very thankful that we survived. I was at the very end of what I could do and I was the only one who could tell the story when we got back to our families.

Ikkarialuk is still alive to this day.