Search and rescue officials in Canada’s Arctic territory of Nunavut say it’s nothing short of a “miracle” that two Inuit hunters managed not only to survive a plunge into the icy waters of Frobisher Bay but also endured for 20 hours on a windswept island with nothing to protect them from the elements.
On top of that, one of them had to walk barefoot on ice for three hours before they reached the island.
By all accounts Iqaluit residents Joseph Monteith and Kelly Akpaleapik were well equipped for their hunt on the floe edge of Frobisher Bay. Their supplies included a satellite phone and a SPOT GPS tracker and emergency beacon.
What they weren’t counting on was how thin the ice on Frobisher Bay was going to be for this time of the year.
Survival gear gone
All their survival gear and supplies disappeared within seconds when their snowmobile and qamutik, a traditional Inuit sled, broke through the ice and sank.
Both men fell into the freezing water. That’s when Akpaleapik lost his boots.
“Your rubber boots can be very heavy if they fill with water,” Jimmy Akavak, chair of Iqaluit’s search and rescue group, told CBC North in Iqaluit.
“Kelly kicked them off right after they went in the water and that made him get closer to his buddy Joseph who had gotten out of the ice first after some struggle.”
Monteith’s quick thinking saved his friend’s life, Akavak said.
He pulled his belt off his waist and threw one end of it to Akpaleapik who was still in the water struggling to get out, said Akavak.
Soaking-wet and barefoot, with no way of warming himself up Akpaleapik had to walk about three hours on ice to a nearby island hoping that it will be warmer on the island than on the ice.
“At times he couldn’t walk anymore. His buddy Joseph pressured him, carried him, dragged him at times, to get to the island,” said Akavak.
‘Basically a miracle’
But the barren island offered little protection from the elements. The pair spent a wet and cold night without anything to protect them from the blustery northern wind.
“It’s basically a miracle they survived,” said Akavak.
They were eventually found by search and rescue teams who located them using the last signal from their SPOT GPS tracking device.
Initially both men were taken to a local hospital in Iqaluit for treatment, but Akpaleapik was flown to Ottawa, about 2,000 km south of Iqaluit, late last night for additional treatment for hypothermia.
Based on reporting by Sima Sahar Zerehi with files from Salome Awa of CBC North in Iqaluit
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