Two men who have been missing on Great Slave Lake since Thursday afternoon were found safe on Saturday evening, the Yellowknife RCMP said. In an update at about 7 p.m. on Saturday, the RCMP said that Samuel Roberts, 65, and Mark Elson, 51, have been found and that the coast guard is currently en route to bring them home.
According to the RCMP, rescuers have communicated with the men and say they “confirmed that they are both alive and doing OK under the circumstances.” A coast guard boat is currently on its way to the two men.
“It is expected that they will be back in Yellowknife in a few hours,” the RCMP update said.
The Mounties said in the news release that they do not yet have information on where the men were found. Elson and Roberts left on Thursday for what the RCMP said was supposed to be an afternoon trip to a commercial fishing area around Post Island, about 20 kilometres south of Yellowknife. The men were expected home Thursday evening, but they have not been seen since.
Family and friends also told the RCMP that the men may be at a cabin near the “Old Mink Farm,” but they were not found there. According to the RCMP, the coast guard conducted an extensive search for the men on Friday by air and water, but it was not able to find any traces of Roberts and Elson.
On Saturday, the N.W.T. Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) conducted additional air searches covering West Mirage Islands, as well as the shore of Great Slave Lake from Dettah to East Arm, and from Yellowknife to Trout Lake. The coast guard also conducted a more thorough search of the Mirage Island area of Great Slave Lake on Saturday.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ont., which supports search and rescue activities for the Arctic and central Canada, also helped with the search and dispatched a Hercules aircraft to allow for a search of a wider area, RCMP said in an update on 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Source: CBC News
