RESOLUTE, Nunavut - A search and rescue helicopter is making its way to a remote area of northern Canada to pluck a stranded Inuit hunter from a snow-shrouded ice floe in the Northwest Passage.
A Cormorant helicopter with a crew of five from Canadian Forces Base Greenwood, N.S., is in Iqaluit, Nunavut, waiting for the weather to improve before heading to Resolute to lift the hunter to safety.
The man was near the edge of the sea ice on Friday, about 15 kilometres from the tiny community, when a large chunk broke free and began drifting out to sea, carrying him along.
Cpl. Jason Poulin, a spokesman for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at CFB Trenton, Ont., says there are blizzard-like conditions in the Resolute area, but a Hercules transport from Winnipeg has already dropped extra survival gear to the stranded man.
Poulin says the crew hopes to reach the area by nightfall after another planned refuelling stop, and is capable of attempting the rescue in darkness if the weather has improved.
He says the experienced hunter is keeping in touch with his wife every two hours by satellite phone and is in "good health and good spirits."
