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Residents rescue 3 boaters from 'near fatality' on Kakisa Lake

Residents in Kakisa, N.W.T., rescued three boaters who capsized on the lake Thursday evening. The boaters had a satellite device that routed their emergency call through the U.S.

Kakisa Chief Lloyd Chicot warns that boaters underestimate lake conditions

Avery Zingel · CBC News ·
Chris Chicot is a Kakisa resident who rescued three boaters who capsized on Kakisa Lake on Thursday. He says the boaters were roughly three kilometres from shore and hypothermic. (Submitted by Tarek Chicot)

Kakisa residents Chris Chicot and Melaine Simba rescued three boaters that capsized on Kakisa Lake on Thursday.

The three men clung to their overturned boat for up to three hours, said Chicot, who is a commercial fisherman. He says he knows the waterways well.

Police sent him GPS location. They boated out and found the men roughly three kilometres from shore.

Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli said the incident was nearly fatal. He said the men made a distress call from a satellite emergency device. The call was routed to the United States, then to Fort Providence RCMP at 7:20 p.m., who alerted Chicot. 

Nadli said incidents like these happen every year and Kakisa Chief Lloyd Chicot wants the public to be warned.

Boaters often "underestimate the lake" which is choppy and in some places, shallow, said Nadli.

"[Chief Lloyd Chicot's] concern is this happens annually. People need to be warned of the environment and conditions," he said. 

The mouth of a river in the summer.
The mouth of the Kakisa River, roughly three kilometres from where the boaters were found in distress. (Joanne Stassen/CBC)

By the time Chris Chicot and Simba arrived, the three men were suffering from hypothermia so severe they could hardly speak. They were wearing life jackets.

The three men are not from the community. 

Chicot and Simba brought the men to shore, where RCMP transported them to the medical centre in Fort Providence.

Chicot said the conditions on Kakisa Lake were rough, with about 20 kilometre per hour winds. 

The coordinates provided by police placed the boaters just a few kilometres from the community's boat launch. (Google Maps)

The men would not have survived much longer in the cold waters without immediate assistance of Kakisa community members, said Corporal Jordan Forman, the officer in charge of Fort Providence RCMP.

"Please ensure you let your friends and family know when you are planning to head out on the water," said Forman in a news release. 

"Conditions are sometimes dangerous especially as this time of the year when water is still very cold," he said

The community of Kakisa wants people to contact the band office at (867) 825 - 2000 before they go out on the lake, the release states.

Police say the three men rescued "want to express their gratitude for the community of Kakisa for assisting them during this rescue operation."

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