Hall Beach teens survive two chilly nights on the land

SARA MINOGUE

Three teenagers from Hall Beach are doing well after a short trip to Igloolik turned into a three-day ordeal that left one boy stranded for three days in temperatures as low as -30 C.

Rescuers found Mickey Barnabas, 17, in good condition except for some mild frostbite, at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. He was about 40 km south of Igloolik.

Suzanne Nattuk, 14, and Glen Nagmalik, 17, were found earlier that afternoon. Both were medevaced to Iqaluit for treatment of their frozen feet and hands.

The three young people left Hall Beach on Sunday around 7 p.m. By Monday evening, they still hadn’t arrived.

Bad luck seems to have triggered the ordeal.

Trouble started when Barnabas accidentally fell off the kamotik during the trip. Neither Nattuk nor Nagmalik, who were riding a snowmobile, noticed he was missing for some time. When they realized what had happened, they turned around immediately, but could not find him.

To make matters worse, a jerry can full of gas fell off the snowmobile as they were searching for their friend. Eventually, the pair ran out of fuel.

The weather was clear on Monday, but on Tuesday, the temperature dipped to-30 C.

“Between here and Hall Beach, that’s a tricky area,” said Igloolik mayor Elijah Evaluardjuk, who was still concerned about the outcome of the search on Tuesday afternoon.

Hall Beach Mayor Jopie Kaernerk quickly organized a search and rescue team of seven snowmobilers to look for the missing teens.

Joanasie Sarpinak, a member of Igloolik’s search and rescue committee, organized four snowmobilers from his community.

Together, the two groups scoured the area between the communities.

Snowdrifts covered tracks in the snow, but searchers were able to follow what they could find by working together in a line, picking up tracks where, to others, they appeared to trail off.

“Luckily we can be informed because we have satellite phones,” Sarpinak said. “Every time they find tracks or have a problem, they call us.”