Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Spence Bay (May 27/02) - What might have been a tragedy wound up with a happy ending for the hamlet of Taloyoak.

Abel Aqqaq, the secretary-treasurer and co-ordinator of the community's search and rescue team, said most hamlet residents were at a lake outside of town last week when they received a call about a woman who had gone missing.

"We were having a fishing derby on the long weekend. On Saturday night, we got a call on the radio saying somebody was not where they were supposed to be," said Aqqaq.

Due to the late hour and approaching bad weather, the search and rescue squad decided to stay put. A second call Sunday morning advising them that Beverly Kingmiatuq and her five-month-old baby were still missing launched them into action.

"We called in on the radio and said we need help. We got a response, but not as many searchers as we needed because the weather was getting worse and we didn't want to take the risk," he said.

Aqqaq said fishing derby participants decided to cancel the event and head back to the community. "We had to cancel it because this was more important than having fun. She was out there with a little baby with nothing but a snowmobile," he said.

While the search was progressing, Aqqaq received a call at 5:30 Sunday afternoon from a searcher who had picked up Kingmiatuq's foot tracks some 30 kilometres north of the community. "By 6 p.m. they found her walking in the opposite direction of the community. She'd been on foot for 26 hours and her feet were wet," said Aqqaq.

Kingmiatuq said her prayers were answered when the search team found her. She had driven back to the community from the fishing derby spot to pick up family and took a wrong turn on the way back out.

"My snowmobile ran out of oil ... then fog came out of nowhere. I started to follow snowmobile tracks and I kept walking, but I must have passed town. I couldn't remember where I was," she said.

Even though she and her daughter were not dressed for spending the night outside, Kingmiatuq made the decision to stay put until the weather cleared. She remained calm because she knew they weren't too far from the community. She began walking once the fog lifted because staying still meant her socks kept freezing.

"It was such a relief when they found me," she said.