Yellowknife (Dec 01/04) - Police are warning parents to keep a close eye on their children after a 14-year-old boy was spotted walking from Dettah towards Ndilo/Yellowknife Monday night in temperatures that neared -40C with the windchill.

The teen was wearing a jacket, boots, gloves and a scarf, but the trek -- which included a shortcut across part of Great Slave Lake -- was still extremely dangerous given the frigid temperatures, said RCMP Sgt. Steve McVarnock.

By highway, the distance between Dettah and Yellowknife is 27 kilometres. When the ice road is in, the distance is cut to six km. "Given the distance and the temperature... we were concerned," McVarnock said.

Seven members of the RCMP and the Civilian Search and Rescue unit scoured the highway into Yellowknife looking for the teen, who reportedly left a house near the Dettah access road at 7 p.m. He was discovered nearly four hours later at a relative's house in Ndilo. The teen was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital as a precautionary measure, but did not suffer any serious injuries or exposure, said McVarnock.

Somebody at the house near the Dettah access road made the call to police, but he declined to release their name. Police also are not saying why the boy decided to brave the bone-chilling temperatures. Police reported the incident to the Department of Health and Social Services, but no charges of neglect would be laid, McVarnock said.