IQALUIT - An Iqaluit man who fell through thin ice while polar bear hunting in mid-March is 'extremely lucky' a helicopter happened to be 45 minutes away, said a GN official.

David Alexander floats on jerry cans in a patch of thin ice while awaiting rescue in Cyrus Field Bay, near the mouth of Frobisher Bay. - photo courtesy of Jimmy Noble

Had there been no helicopter available, a ground rescue party would have been sent to the hunters, probably taking some six to seven hours to reach them, said Zebedee.

"It would have been a long trip for them," said Ed Zebedee, director of protection services, department of community and government services. "I don't want to venture what the outcome would have been but it probably would have been different."

Instead, a helicopter belonging to Great Slave Helicopters, which had just arrived in Iqaluit at the time of the incident for a Peregrine Diamonds charter, took 45 minutes to reach the duo and 90 minutes to return. Had the incident occurred a day earlier, no helicopter would have been available, he added.

David Alexander was polar bear hunting with a friend at the mouth of Cyrus Field Bay about 240 kilometres from Iqaluit when he went through the ice with his snowmobile and qamutiik, he said.

"It was impossible to step on the ice at all because it was too thin -- about an inch and a half," he said.

He had water up to his shoulder and chest, he added, and stayed afloat on two and a half empty jerry cans with his left foot on top of the thin ice and a hook.

His friend, who had stopped on thicker ice, called for help with his satellite phone. Wet, cold and awaiting rescue, Alexander said a lot of things were going through his mind.

"What have I got myself into? he said. "Why did I make the mistake, not knowing what we ended up having to travel on? How will I recover from this? How will I outlive it?

"I was glad my friend didn't go through the ice as well. That's what kept my mind focused to just wait."

When the helicopter arrived, pilot James Kitchen hovered the chopper over the men while Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Will Ward helped them get in.

Zebedee said one of the men was suffering from hypothermia while the other was all right.

Alexander said seeing the helicopter was "the most joyful thing."

"We were both put on the chopper and traveled back home."

He added he almost had frostbite on the butt, feet and ankles but he is now fine. Alexander said he will "certainly" go polar bear hunting again although replacing his gear won't be easy as he lost his rifle, satellite phone and flares.

"They were extremely lucky," said Zebedee. "These individuals had communication equipment with them and were able to communicate where they were and that probably saved their lives.

"That helicopter, going down the mouth of Frobisher Bay and coming back was pretty well the extent of its capacity for flying."

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