Search team finds missing snowmobilers from Puvirnituq
UPDATE | Young couple headed for Akulivik by snowmobile on Sunday but went missing for four days
Two snowmobile travellers are reported missing between Puvirnituq and Akulivik. (File Photo)
The search for a young couple missing from Puvirnituq since Sunday came to a happy ending Thursday when searchers found them alive and well.
They were located shortly before noon, Nunavik Police Service Chief of Operations Jean-François Morin confirmed to Nunatsiaq News.
The 18-year-old woman, Viola Novalinga, and 19-year-old Willie Unaluk had set out for Akulivik, about 100 kilometres away, on Sunday night when their snowmobile ran out of gas.
“They got lost during their trip to Akulivik, and they started going in circles,” Morin said. “They were not on the usual trajectory to go to Akulivik, which made it harder to find them.”
Morin said that at around 11:20 a.m. Thursday, the search teams spotted Unaluk alone, following his own trail back toward Puvirnituq. He and his partner had separated so that he could find help.
He was able to direct the search team toward Novalinga. At 11:50 a.m., searchers found her near the spot where the couple had stopped four days earlier.
According to Puvirnituq Mayor Paulusie Angiyou, the pair was closer to their community than where the search team was looking.
”Everyone is overjoyed for finding them,” said Angiyou. “Seeing that they are fine after four days out there, with nothing to eat, that was amazing.”
Unaluk was taken to hospital suffering from frostbite, Morin said. Novalinga was also taken to hospital for observation although she had apparent injuries.
“It had been four days that they were sleeping with the stars and eating snow,” Morin said. “That is how they survived dehydration.”
However, he added, the clock was ticking for the couple. Spending more time in the outdoors could have been fatal for them.
“Time was a huge issue, and there was not much left,” Morin said. ”It was time we found them.”
“We hope something like that does not happen again,” Angiyou said.
There are numerous devices, such as satellite phones, GPS systems and cellphones, available to make sure people don’t get lost along the way.
“We want to be sure that if anyone is going out, they should have one of those gadgets with them,” he said.
That great news, been keeping up with Eskimo Dave on the search, can’t imagine being lost in all that white. Props to your great people,
There should be a hefty fine for anyone going out on land or sea without some kind of emergency transmitter or satellite phone. Never mind the time, energy and expense for search parties. It’s by no means unheard of for searchers to die when looking for the irresponsible and incompetent.
I am glad they were found ok, a very good lesson for them.
It’s very important to have a gps when travelling far. What is also important is to teach our young how to travel on the land and sea. How to read the snow drifts, stars and so on, we need to teach these skills more along with having the technology such as gps, satellite phones and such,
The route is used often between pov and akulivik. Anyone can have problems but many times it’s poor planning and not much thought put into going out on the land. The younger people don’t have skills today, they’re not acquiring any. But the people in these villages are very skilled on the land traditionally.
Where is this guy Colin coming from? “I’d rather freeze to death out here than to pay a “hefty fine”! lol! Ignorance lives among us boy!!