Hall Beach (Jun 19/06) - Three hunters from Hall Beach were rescued from an Arctic Ocean ice floe after three miserable days awaiting salvation last week.

Simonie Siakuluk, Jimmy Kunuk and Jamie Javagiaq left Hall Beach in the early afternoon of June 9. They were going hunting for walrus in a 22-foot aluminum canoe with a 60-horsepower outboard motor when they ran out of gas to the south of the community.

Unfortunately, the fuel supply they had with them was tainted by salt water, Siakuluk said two days after the rescue.

They had a paddle on board, but accidentally dropped it into the water and couldn't retrieve it, said Siakuluk, 42. Getting desperate, he and his companions, both in their 20s, attempted to use a shovel to propel their canoe.

"Sometimes you go sideways, not straight," Siakuluk said, chuckling at the memory.

The men decided to climb aboard an ice floe and wait for help.

By the next day, the search and rescue committee and the RCMP began to mobilize. The police contacted the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Trenton, Ont. Three Hercules airplanes were quickly dispatched.

Canadian Helicopters and the Northern Warning Site (FRONTEC) also assisted in the search.

The hunters were spotted by air on June 11. They were standing on an ice floe 43 kilometres southwest of the community.

Any initial jubilation was subdued by the weather, though. High winds and rough water prevented any rescue attempt.

The best the search team could do was drop supplies, such as clothes, food, water and an inflatable raft, and continue to monitor the men.

The provisions were appreciated, but the hunters had managed to kill and eat a walrus, according to Siakuluk.

"We were cold, very cold. We were wet, soaked. It was kind of hard," he said.

The ice floe continued to drift at a rate of approximately three kilometres per hour. By the time the weather stabilized the following day, the men were now 97 kilometres from Hall Beach.

"If it wasn't for the efforts of our rescue centre, I don't know where they would have been," said Const. Kris Wood of the Hall Beach RCMP detachment.

All three men were physically exhausted, but they didn't require medical attention.

Asked whether he'll be back out on the water anytime soon, Siakuluk said he won't let a mistake stop him.

"I'm not going to give up hunting," he said. "I learned a lesson. I need a radio, that's very important... and make sure I've got lots of gas."