Missing Igloolik family returns home

A family of three left Hall Beach Dec. 28 en route to Igloolik, roughly 70 kilometres away, but has yet to arrive. (GOOGLE MAPS)

Updated Dec. 30

A family who went missing for 24 hours on their trek from Hall Beach returned home to Igloolik the evening of Dec. 29 without incident.

Search and rescue crews from both Baffin communities were on the lookout for the family of three through the day after the travellers did not return home as planned the previous day.

A couple and their teenage son were reported to have left Hall Beach by snowmobile Dec. 28 in the late afternoon, with plans to arrive home in Igloolik later the same day.

The distance between the two Baffin communities is about 70 kilometres.

But blizzards hampered search efforts earlier in the day with windchills measuring -44 C and winds blowing snow up to 70 km an hour.

Igloolik search and rescue coordinator Jacob Malliki said Dec. 29 that two searchers from Hall Beach and another four from Igloolik planned to set out from Igloolik on snowmobile to search for the missing family after the wind died down and visibility improved.

The blizzard moved into the Kivalliq region Dec. 29, where the Government of Nunavut closed its offices in Arviat, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, Baker Lake, Repulse Bay and also in Gjoa Haven.

In preparation for poor weather, the GN advised Nunavut households to stock emergency supplies to last 72 hours, including food, flashlights, first aid kits, water and required medication.