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May 2, 2003

Aupaluk pair return safely after week-long ordeal

Found healthy within 20 miles of town

ODILE NELSON

Two young adults from Aupaluk, missing since early last week, slept under a tarp and survived on ptarmigan and wild berries before volunteer searchers stumbled across the pair on the evening of April 28, only hours before the town was reportedly ready to call off the search.

According to Brian Jones, the Kativik Regional Police chief, Edward Salursiak, 20, and Susie Ooninak, 23, disappeared April 21.

"What I can tell you now is that a group of people went fishing in Aupaluk on Monday afternoon and a group of them left to come back. There were four in the group. The weather was bad and they got lost. They [searchers] found two, but they didn't find the other two," Jones said.

Conflicting reports surround the story. For example, the Sureté du Québec said two men, one reportedly physically handicapped, went missing on April 22.

But what is certain is the pair spent the next week on the land before their chance rescue.
Johnny Akpahatak, the mayor of Aupaluk, said the woman and man used their wits to survive the week, which was marred by strong winds, snow and fog.

"They had a plastic tarp to shelter them at night. When the camp stove fuel ran out, they got some from the snowmobile, so they used that to heat up and cook whatever they had. They only used the camp stove at night so they were able to stretch the use that way," Akpahatak said.

The pair's disappearance set off a massive search in the region. But the same weather that worsened the pair's week on the land, made it impossible for the KRPF or the SQ to join the search until late in the week.

In the meantime, according to Akpahatak, volunteers from the relatively nearby villages of Quaqtaq and Kangirsuk joined the ground search. Jones said volunteers from Tasijuaq also participated.

When the weather finally turned, one KRPF officer and eight members of the SQ arrived in Aupaluk. Soon after their arrival, they joined the manhunt using a rented helicopter from Kuujjuaq to conduct an aerial search.

Hugues Beaulieu, an information officer for the SQ, said local volunteers finally found the pair early Monday evening after both the KRPF and SQ had called off an official search.

"We had looked for a week so the search was finished," Beaulieu said. "Even the town was beginning to think the two people were dead. Everybody was going back to the town. So it was a last-chance effort."

Beaulieu said both survivors were found in healthy condition, though one remained in hospital because he required special treatment.

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