Tourists stranded on ice floe in Nunavut await rescue aircraft
ARCTIC BAY, Nunavut - A group of tourists and their guides stuck on an ice floe off Baffin Island in Nunavut were still awaiting rescue early Wednesday.
They were set adrift when a 50 kilometre long slab of ice broke away from shore between Monday night and early Tuesday and floated out to sea.
Thirty people were initially on the floe, but RCMP Cpl. Yvonne Niego said Tuesday that 10 hunters managed to get off when their end floated close to shore.
Winnipeg-based Canadian Forces Major Steve Neta said early Wednesday that 13 of the remaining 20 Canadian and foreign tourists and their guides have since made it to shore the same way.
The seven who remain on the ice flow, and the others, were expected to be rescued by about 3 a.m. ET, but Neta could not say when military aircraft would arrive to bring them safely to shore
Niego had earlier said a military aircraft from Winnipeg had dropped off ample supplies and that everyone was safe and there were no injuries.
The hunters had come from an undisclosed community to hunt whales, while the tourists were with Arctic Kingdom Expeditions some distance from the hunters.
