Missing Arviat men found safe

Arviat drilling student Robert Gibbons, left, poses with his drilling instructor Rob Hood after completing a diamond drilling course. The two men were found late May 13. (PHOTO COURTESY OF HARMONY HOOD)

Two men who went missing from Arviat have been found safe, hamlet officials say.

Rob Hood, a drilling instructor who was visiting Arviat from Ontario, and his former student Robert Gibbons, left the community by snowmobile May 10 and headed to the Maguse Lake area, roughly 100 kilometres northeast of Arviat.

When the two men had not returned by May 12, local RCMP and search and rescue crews launched a ground search, adding an aerial search May 13.

The two men were found just before midnight May 13, about 30 to 40 miles from the community, Arviat RCMP said.

They would have arrived back in Arviat early May 14. The two men are said to be in good health.

Hood is a 59-year-old drilling instructor from Northern College in Ontario. His companion, Robert Gibbons, is a 23-year-old Arviat resident and former drilling student of Hood’s who is familiar with the region.

Police and search and rescue personnel said they were concerned because the men had few supplies with them when they left Arviat May 10.