Emudluk identified the three family members who were involved in the bear attack as elder Kenny Assevak and his adult children, daughter Siqua Baron and son Ned Baron — who had joined the expedition because of their roots in Killiniq.
The night of the incident, the family was sleeping in a tent when the polar bear showed up just after 2 a.m. Emudluk says the young polar bear reached the father first and then attacked the daughter before Ned Baron killed the bear with a gun at close range.
How awful, I hope they recover quickly and are well cared for.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
About 10 boats left a foggy Kangiqsualujjuaq on July 25 as part of a three-day journey in what was bound to be an eventful trip.
But their most precious cargo was the bones of four unknown people whose remains were excavated from Killiniq island — in Nunavut — decades ago.
In the early hours of the morning of July 26, Maggie Emudluk, mayor of Kangiqsualujjuaq, was home in bed when she was awoken by a frantic call.
A resident from town told her a polar bear had attacked two people 140 kilometres northeast of them on the first night of the trip and she needed to co-ordinate a rescue mission.
“The person, pretty much in a panic state, said ‘The people that are going to Killiniq have been attacked by polar bears’ …[I thought] ‘Oh my God,’” said Emudluk.
Kokiapik says the team gathered rocks and found a spot to bury the remains near the water — a proper end to the trip that had been over a year in the making.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
