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IGLULIK - Five men were rescued by helicopter outside Iglulik July 19 after their boats became trapped in pack ice.

The five-man team, comprised of one person from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, one contractor and three Inuit guides, had left Iglulik Point on July 14 to do bowhead whale field research and were due back on July 17.

But heavy pack ice surrounded the two boats and the five men were stuck for four days, stated Kevin Hill, a spokesman with DFO. He added the boats were hauled onto the ice.

A helicopter from Hall Beach landed on the ice and picked up the men at about 8 p.m. on July 19, stated the RCMP. It added the boats got stuck about 20 kilometres northeast of Iglulik Island, north of Neerlonakto Island.

"All involved are said to be in good health," stated the RCMP.

The men had been reported overdue to the hamlet, which in turned notified the territorial government on July 18, said Ed Zebedee, the territory's director of protection services.

Zebedee said the men were eating seal they had caught as they were out of food.

"They were actually supposed to be back in on the 17th, so they hadn't planned to be out there that long and they didn't have that much gear. It was determined the ice wasn't going to free them so at some point, we were going to have to get them anyway," he said. "There are big pans of ice coming down and they just unfortunately got trapped in one of them but it's not unusual. We've had boat rescues in June and July before because they are trapped in the ice."

Both boats were tied up and a whale-tracking device activated in one of them in the hopes of eventually retrieving the boats, if possible, he added.

The team were satellite tagging, skin sampling and taking photos of bowhead whales, stated Hill, information that will be used to assess stocks, estimate population and do genetic testing.

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