Iqaluit hunter, David Alexander, rescued from sea ice

An Iqaluit man says he is thankful to be alive after he survived a harrowing fall through the sea ice near the mouth of Frobisher Bay.

David Alexander said he and a friend were polar bear hunting on Sunday when his snowmobile unexpectedly hit some soft ice in the Cyrus Field Bay area, roughly 200 kilometres from Iqaluit.

"I couldn't tell how thick the ice was and it was too late to turn around," Alexander told CBC News on Monday from his home, where he is recovering.

His friend, Jimmy Noble Jr., was still on solid ice about 90 metres away and he called for help with a satellite phone.

Agonizing wait

"I told Jimmy, 'You got to call for help right away.' I was so soaking wet, up to my chest. Gobbled a little bit of sea salt," Alexander recalled.

Alexander said he climbed onto his sled and some empty gas cans to stay afloat. From there, he said he waited for what seemed like an agonizingly long time.

"All kinds of thoughts going through the mind. I mean, I didn't want to have to go through a slow pain," an emotional Alexander said.

"I had my rifle right beside me. If I didn't know there was help coming, I would have had my thought of going a quicker way."

Lucky coincidence

Meanwhile, search officials in Iqaluit were scrambling to find a way to reach Alexander when they caught a lucky break — by coincidence, a helicopter had just arrived in the city.

'That's the most joyful thing, that you're coming [back home] alive.' —David Alexander

"The helicopters aren't normally here," said Ed Zebedee, the Nunavut government's director of protective services.

"We would have had to do a ground rescue, which could have taken us eight or nine hours to get there, and I don't think that would have been very successful."

The helicopter reached the men about 3½ hours after Alexander had fallen through the ice. They were flown to Iqaluit, where Alexander was treated at Qikiqtani General Hospital and released.

Alexander is now recovering at home, with the feeling starting to return to his numbed legs.

The rescued hunter said he will have to figure out how to replace his lost snowmobile and gear, but for now he is grateful to have survived the ordeal.

"That's the most joyful thing, that you're coming [back home] alive," he said.