Nunavut man drowns in hunting accident

A Clyde River hunter fell through thin ice at the floe edge outside the Baffin community on April 9. He is presumed drowned. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CLYDERIVER.CA)

A Clyde River man drowned earlier this week while bear hunting along the floe edge.

A group of five men were polar bear hunting about 65 kilometres southeast of the Baffin community on Monday, April 9, when one man fell through the sea ice and didn’t re-surface, Nunavut RCMP said in an April 10 release.

A second man in the group went through the ice but was rescued.

The group was able to call for help with a VHF radio, and another rescue group from Clyde River came to bring the second man back to the community.

The hunting party stayed at the site to try and find the first hunter, who is presumed drowned. The search is ongoing, RCMP said.

Family members identified the missing hunter as Josache Illauq, who had just caught his first polar bear before he fell into the ice.

Illauq and his father were reportedly retrieving the bear in a thin ice area when they both fell in, though the father was rescued.

“He was the nicest, friendliest person I know,” the man’s brother, Nick Illauq, wrote on Facebook April 10. “My heart is broken.”