Canadian Forces called to help search for overdue Nunavut hunter

Rankin Inlet search crews and a Canadian Forces’ Hercules aircraft are looking for a hunter who failed to return to the community on Feb. 21, the RCMP said.

Ground searchers in Rankin Inlet contacted the community’s RCMP detachment at about 3 p.m. Feb. 24 to report the missing hunter, said Sgt. Yvonne Niego of the RCMP’s “V” division in Iqaluit.

The hunter, a 24-year-old man, was travelling by snowmobile.

Searchers reported he went missing in an area 20 kilometres north of Rankin Inlet. A blizzard in the region hampered search efforts on Feb. 24.

Nunavut Search and Rescue contacted the Canadian Forces for help, and a Hercules plane at Canadian Forces Base Trenton was put “on stand-by, to fly out as soon as the weather clears,” Niego said Feb. 25.

RCMP confirmed the weather had cleared on the 25th, but could not give further details on the search. Rankin Inlet searchers could not be reached for comment.

Niego said the lost hunter reported problems with his snowmobile Feb. 21.

“His snowmobile was fixed, but he was reported as missing,” Niego said. “’Overdue hunter’ is what they’re calling it.”

Environment Canada reported winds of 30 kilometres per hour gusting to 50, with a windchill of -51 C on Feb. 25, and forecast a blizzard for the evening, lasting through Wednesday morning.