Great Slave Lake boaters rescued after spending 2 nights stranded

Two tourists and a local boat operator were rescued by helicopter Sunday morning after spending two nights stranded on Great Slave Lake.

The three had set out from Yellowknife for the eastern side of the North Arm at about 11 a.m. Friday and were due to return at around 5 p.m. the same day, according to Yellowknife RCMP.

Police say the boat was operated by a local person with knowledge of the area, and the two others on board were tourists.

During the excursion, the boat operator deviated from the planned route to the North Arm and headed instead toward the East Arm, without notifying his contact in Yellowknife about the change in plans.

Police say the boat did not have enough fuel to make the return trip, and the operator steered the boat to shore before running out of fuel.

The three were reported overdue to RCMP Friday at 9 p.m. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary was deployed to the boat's planned North Arm route to search until dark.

On Saturday, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, an RCMP vessel and spotter planes from the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association continued to search the North Arm.

Around 9 p.m. Saturday, the operator of the overdue boat was able to make radio contact with the Coast Guard and give his location at Gypsum Point on Great Slave Lake, about 43 kilometres away from where the searchers were looking.

Coast Guard Auxiliary and RCMP headed to Gypsum Point but were unable to extract the stranded boaters that night due to weather. 

Great Slave Helicopters picked up the stranded boaters at around 9 a.m. Sunday. Back in Yellowknife, they were checked out by emergency medical services as a precaution.