Dorothy Westerman
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 19/05) - Lifejackets probably saved the lives of two people who tipped their canoe late Saturday evening, says a Yellowknife firefighter.

"They took off from Cassidy Point and they had gone to Tartan Rapids. They were on their way back from Tartan Rapids when their canoe flipped," Gerda Groothuizen said of the incident, which did not require a rescue effort by the fire department.

The pair stayed with the canoe and then swam to a nearby occupied cabin, where they spent the night. The incident occurred around 10 p.m. "They were pretty cold, but they warmed up by the fire and dried their clothes and stayed overnight," she said.

The cabin owners, who subsequently called the fire department to alert them of the situation, boated the two back to a location on Sunday where their families were able to pick them up and return them home, Groothuizen said.