Local searches continue for missing Salluit hunters

As air searches for the three hunters who have been missing from Salluit since June 8 wind down, people along the Hudson Strait plan to continue the search along the coasts for signs of the men. (PHOTO BY YAAKA JAAKA)

(updated June 20, 4:30 p.m.)

The official air search for three Nunavik hunters who failed to return home June 8 from seal hunting near Salluit ended in the afternoon of June 15.

But an Air Inuit Twin Otter and a chartered Twin Otter continued to look for signs of Frankie Ikey, 41, his son Stas, 20, and family friend Adamie Alaku, 45, missing since June 8 when they left to go seal hunting in the vicinity of Deception Bay.

The three men set off seal hunting June 8 in a 22-foot freighter canoe, with hunting gear, satellite phone and an HFB radio.

The they were expected to return during the evening, but never returned.

After six days of extensive air searches around Salluit, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ont. decided to end its air search in the Hudson Strait.

Canadian Rangers from Saluit and Kangiqsujuaq continued to comb the coasts — and still look— for the missing hunters.

An Air Inuit Twin Otter, which had been involved in the search from the beginning, stopped its search June 20, although all scheduled flights will be keeping their eyes open on the coastal areas along the Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay.

The community of Kangiqsujuaq started an air search of their own June 16 with a chartered Twin Otter from Iqaluit, but the expense of chartering the aircraft — about $8,000 a day — the difficulty of finding aviation fuel made it “painfully clear that we cannot continue the air search indefinitely,” Kangiqsujuaq resident Yaaka Jaaka said in a June 17 email to Nunatsiaq News.

That air search was called off June 19.

“I believe I speak for everybody when I say, that it was an honourable an valiant effort by all those who were involved. From the planners, the co-ordinators, and those who volunteered their times to be the spotters on the aircraft and to the pilots and their company who made it all possible. Even though our efforts were ultimately not successful, we are committed to continuing the search as soon as ice conditions permit,” Jaaka said June 20.

Then, boats and canoes will be dispatched to search the coastal regions, Jaaka said.

“In the meantime, people from our community have been asked to be vigilant while out hunting or camping. We would also like to extent our sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the immediate families and all those who have been affected or impacted by this event. Be it through close relations, distant relations, through friendship and those who have simply felt graced by their presence. May the spirits of their relatives, our relatives and those of our ancestors who shaped us into who we are, guide them back safely to their families and friends,” he said.

This is a view of the Hudson Strait looking out towards Baffin Island, which lies just beyond the horizon, just out of sight due to the curvature of the earth. Alhough the official air search for the missing hunters from Salluit stopped June 15, people in Salluit and the neighbouring communities continue to look for the missing hunters. (PHOTO BY YAAKA JAAKA)