Nunavut RCMP warn about unsafe conditions near Iqaluit floe edge

Unsafe ice conditions near Pink Lady Island are responsible for the loss of a hunter’s snowmobile and qamutik. (IMAGE COURTESY OF GOOGLE MAPS)

Nunavut’s RCMP are warning that floe edge conditions near Iqaluit are unsafe.

That warning comes after a snowmobile and qamutik sank Monday near Pink Lady Island, located about 40 kilometres southeast of the city in Frobisher Bay.

No one was hurt, but the incident prompted the RCMP to remind people in Iqaluit about the dangers involved when venturing to the floe edge.

On Sunday afternoon, April 22, at about 3 p.m. members of the Iqaluit detachment were contacted by Iqaluit Search and Rescue about an incident near Pink Lady Island: a hunting party had become separated, police said in a news release, sent out late on Monday, April 23.

When one of the two hunters on snowmobiles returned to the floe edge near Pink Lady Island, he found his hunting companion was missing.

Fearing that he had fallen through the ice, the hunter patrolled close to the floe edge to try and locate his partner, police said.

The hunter, his snowmobile and qamutik had broken through the ice. Another passing hunter was able to help him, but the hunter’s snowmobile and qamutik sank.

When found later on Pink Lady Island, the missing hunter was unaware that he had even been reported missing.

All of the hunters were accounted for and returned safely to Iqaluit, police said.