Missing Nunavut travellers built igloos while awaiting rescue

A Cormorant helicopter and Hercules aircraft, each of which was used in the recent search for Nunavut MLA Pauloosie Keyootak, sit on the tarmac at the Iqaluit airport. (PHOTO BY BRIAN TATTUINNEE)

Pauloosie Keyootak, his son and his nephew are reportedly in good condition after searchers found them on the land southeast of Iqaluit following a five-day aerial and ground search for their whereabouts.

But questions still remain concerning the location where they were found — south of Iqaluit which is the opposite direction from Pangnirtung, where they were apparently headed.

Search and rescue aircraft discovered the trio at about 5:30 p.m. March 31, some 180 kilometres southeast of Iqaluit on Cyrus Field Bay off the Hall Peninsula.

When the search began March 27, it was widely reported that the three men were on their way to Qikiqtarjuaq, Keyootak’s hometown, by way of Pangnirtung, which is north of Iqaluit.

The group was taken from the rescue site by helicopter and returned to Iqaluit at around 10:30 p.m. last night.

“It was an emotional time, there were a lot of congratulations and hugs,” said Kris Mullaly, media liaison for Nunavut’s department of Community and Government Services.

First contact with the snowmobilers was made by spotters aboard a chartered Twin Otter aircraft.

“One of the spotters onboard noticed that there was some snowmobile trails. They followed them up to where the overdue travellers were,” said Mullaly.

The aircraft was outfitted with ski landing gear and was able to land near Keyootak’s camp, where the party had built a pair of igloos for shelter.

But a rough landing briefly stranded the rescuers with those they sought to rescue.

“When they landed to pick these guys up, one of the hydraulic lines on the ski was damaged so they had to stay put with the travellers onboard.”

A Cormorant helicopter, sent by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax to assist in the search, flew out to retrieve Keyootak and the Twin Otter’s crew.

“They walked off the helicopter. They appeared to not be injured,” Mullaly said.

Strong winds and blowing snow contributed to the group disorientation, and may explain why they were found so far off course from their original destination, the GN suggests.

“Even though they were initially going north, they were turned around into a southern direction. Soon after they left, they encountered some blowing snow and strong winds and they got turned around,” Mullaly said.

The group did not take a SPOT tracking device, or any communication device with them.

Keyootak, along with his 15-year old son Atamie Qiyutaq and nephew Peter Kakkie, appear to have left Iqaluit by snowmobile around noon March 22.

The trio was planning to arrive in Pangnirtung, about 300 km away, sometime in the middle of the night before continuing on to Qikiqtarjuaq, another 200 km away.

“Thank you to all Nunavutmiut for your prayer… I am overwhelmed, happy and emotional. I took a long hot bath and am tired. Good night,” Kakkie wrote on his Facebook page after arriving in Iqaluit.

The group was taken to the Qikiqtani General Hospital after arriving in Iqaluit.

On March 31, the Emergency Measure’s Office had announced it would scale back aerial searches for the missing snowmobilers.

“Due to Transport Canada, there’s only so much air time that pilots and volunteers can log. The Twin Otter was available at 2 p.m. yesterday and conducted its normal operations and was successful at finding them at 5:30 p.m.,” Mullaly said.

CGS is crediting the operation’s success to the turnout of volunteers that acted as onboard aerial spotters and those who conducted ground searches between Iqaluit and Pangnirtung.

Roughly eight spotters volunteered on the aircraft, along with 15 Iqalungmiut who searched the Pangnirtung trail on the ground.

Another six volunteers from Pangnirtung searched the trail from that community.

“Volunteer input into a search and rescue like this is so integral, such an important part of what we’re doing and we owe them a massive debt of gratitude on this operation,” Mullaly said.

There’s no word yet on how much the search cost, Mullaly said. His department is still tallying the cost of fuel, repairs and in some cases, accommodations for searchers.

But he said eventually, all search and rescue expenses from this will be made public.