RCMP, volunteers continue to search for 46-year-old Antoine Betsidea
Betsidea was last seen near MacKay Lake, N.W.T. Sunday afternoon
RCMP and volunteers are continuing to search for missing Behchoko, N.W.T. hunter Antoine Betsidea.
The 46-year old was last seen Sunday evening between Lockhart Lake and MacKay Lake, N.W.T. while hunting for caribou. He was part of a group of about a dozen hunters snowmobiling caribou carcasses from their kill site to their vehicles on the Tibbitt to Contowoyto winter road, about 350 km north of Yellowknife.
"Some of them were saying it was like a blizzard out there. The snowmobile tracks were covered. Some of them had a very hard time getting back to where their vehicles were," says Behchoko chief Clifford Daniels.
"He must have just got lost in the blizzard and couldn't find his direction back."
RCMP is working with Civil Aviation Search and Rescue (CASARA) and Yellowknife Ground Search and Rescue in an effort to locate Betsidea. An aircraft has been sent out, but high winds and poor visibility have stopped snowmobiles from being used.
"It's been difficult to get out on the land because, as I gather, weather conditions are quite terrible up there," says Sgt. Donald Duplissea, who is with the Yellowknife RCMP
A group of about 10 volunteers from Behchoko are heading out Tuesday evening to help with the search. They hope to be in the MacKay Lake area by Wednesday morning.
People in Deline, N.W.T., Betsidea's home community, are also raising money to help pay for the search. They have raised over $2,000 since they began fundraising Tuesday morning.
with files from Mark Hadlari