Vitara slides off jetty into 'Kuujjuaq;’s Koksoak River

A pleasant Sunday afternoon excursion turned tragic when a vehicle with three passengers fell into the Koksoak River in Kuujjuaq, where it sunk several metres under water.

One passenger escaped from the black, four-door Suzuki Vitara.

But two people, a couple in their 50s, were spotted June 8 about 3 p.m., floating near-death on the surface of the water, not far from where their vehicle had plunged into the river.

As of Nunatsiaq News press time, Willie and Lydia Makiuk were on life support in a Montreal hospital.

The driver, Willie Makiuk, an employee of Makivik Corp., was the second Kativik Regional Government chairman from 1980 to 1983 and one of the first two employees at the KRG in 1978.

Lydia Makiuk is a receptionist with the Kativik School Board.

A third passenger, Lizzie Gadbois, a hospital employee, escaped serious injury.

Gadbois was pulled from the water by Martha Koneak, who heard a loud splash from her tent, which was pitched on a hill nearby.

Koneak's efforts to rescue Gadbois also helped alert nearby workers.

Police arrived on the scene within minutes of receiving a call.

The incident occurred near the Kuujjuaq tank farm where a jetty made of cement, which is maintained by the Kuujjuamiut Society, juts out into the river.

The jetty, subject to ice damage during the spring break-up period, is mainly used by residents with privately-owned boats and to offload fuel barges.

According to police, the Vitara was parked on the jetty. Willie Makiuk apparently lost control of the vehicle as he backed up.

There were deep skid marks where the driver attempted to stop the vehicle's plunge into the icy water, police said.

"The tide was a bit high at that point and they slid down into about 15 feet of water," said Jobie Epoo, Nunavik's acting chief of the Kativik Regional Police Force.

Epoo said when police first arrived at the river, they attempted to go into the water where they saw two people bobbing about 50 feet from shore.

But the water temperature prevented them from going in to rescue the couple,

Police decided to use a small rowboat instead.

When firefighter Guy Desmarais arrived on the scene, the rowboat was just heading out. Several minutes later, Willie and Lydia Makiuk were brought on shore. They showed no vital signs.

"They were not breathing, but they were put on stretchers and then CPR was started," Desmarais said.

How long the couple had been in the water and whether they had been swimming before losing consciousness has not yet been determined.

The ambulance rushed the two to Kuujjuaq's Tulattavik hospital. They were medevaced out early Monday morning to Montreal.

Earlier this week, many questions continued to circulate around Kuujjuaq- whether construction work at the jetty contributed to the accident, exactly how the Vitara ended up under water, and by what means its passengers managed to leave the vehicle.

Firefighters pulled the Vitara out of the water Sunday afternoon with the help of an excavator. They found the Vitara, which had been left in neutral, was filled with water. All its doors were shut.