After an extensive search and rescue operation spanning 2 days, an injured man was returned to Aklavik from the northern Mackenzie Delta.
The man left Aklavik alone in a small fishing boat headed for Inuvik on June 8, but ran out of gas and became disoriented. He made a distress call to the Canadian Coast Guard - Marine Transport Communications Center after injuring himself while trying to start a fire on a river bank. The Canadian Coast Guard contacted the Aklavik RCMP detachment to organize his rescue. They were able to triage his injury and maintained radio contact with him throughout the night.
Teams of local search and rescue volunteers and the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary from Inuvik were put into action and patrolled the delta overnight. While these teams were able to make radio contact with the man near Shallow Bay, they could not spot him due to high waters and dense willows. On the morning of June 9, two spotters from Aklavik boarded a chartered helicopter and located the missing man in a lake off of the Leland Channel, stuck to a pile of driftwood. A rescue team was dispatched and he was brought back to Aklavik, where he was taken immediately to the local Health Centre. A visiting doctor was able to escort him on a commercial flight to Inuvik, where he received further medical care for his injury.
"It is the coordinated efforts of the agencies that assist in an RCMP organized Search and Rescue that leads to the ability for us to report the person was located and rescued and provided medical information. Thank you to all those involved with the search efforts" Cpl Chris Whynot, Aklavik RCMP Detachment Commander.