While RCMP says they have their eyes on the Hayes river that moves rapidly, a group of a first nation of northern Ontario stopped his search for a Norwegian hiker missing in a remote part of northern Manitoba on Tuesday due to the growing costs.
People began to worry after it was reported that one of Steffen Steffen Skjottelvik’s dogs came to his expected destiny of York Factory, Man., Sol. The 29 -year -old man had left with his two Fort Severn dogs, Ontario, at the end of last month.
Skjottelvik was aimed at traveling from James Bay to Alaska, according to a Facebook page that documents the trip called Steffen’s Great Canadian Journey.
The coastal land between the two, which consists of soaked Muskeg, is the home of polar bears and wolves.
“People think that Steffen should not have been doing that, but we all make … mistakes and we are all human beings and that is what we see it,” Fort Severn said First Nation Kakekaspan to CBC News on Tuesday.
“He is a human being and needs our help … he is someone’s son.”
Kakekaspan said that their community’s search engines were forced to retire on Tuesday morning. In the approximately two days they searched, the group incurred $ 70,000 in helicopter rental costs, something Kakekaspan says they could no longer maintain.
Fort Severn left on July 25
Police say that Skjottelvik is considered an experienced desert traveler. RCMP and Kakekaspan have also said that the land in the area, and the threat of wildlife, make their path of planned walking.
Skjottelvik left Fort Severn on foot on July 25 with his dogs hoping to reach York Factory last Friday, a distance of 300 kilometers in a three -week timeline.
He arrived at the Nanuk camp, about 40 kilometers from York Factory, on August 13. He said he had lost one of his dogs along the way, according to RCMP.
Skjottelvik last touched the base with a contact in York Factory on August 14, saying that he planned to get the next day.
RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre said previously that one of Skjottelvik’s dogs could have been lost in a wolf attack. But someone from Fort Severn has published images on Facebook of a Husky who resembles one of Skjottelvik’s dogs who wandered for that community on Monday.
On Tuesday, Manaigre said that the search has so far been in boat, drones and helicopters due to the traitorous swampy ground.
He said Tuesday that the police force has a Mountie in the area currently.
An RCMP officer flew a drone on Monday night equipped with thermal image skills to search hot points that could be Skjottelvik, Manaigre said.
Focus on the Hayes River
He said that Manitoba’s conservation is in the area with a helicopter that performs air searches to complement the efforts of local search engines, including a Gillam, Man., Resident familiar with the area, and is searching by boat.
Manaigre said Tuesday that there was an approach to the Hayes River, one of the fastest in Canada.
“It’s just an extremely dangerous river to cross and basically, with all the rain, everything goes to the bay at this time so that the current was extremely fast,” Manaigre said.
It “suspects very” that Skjottelvik may have tried to cross an island at approximately one kilometer from the coast, which Manaigre says that it is approximately another kilometer or more from the other side of the river.
“If there are low waters, you can technically navigate on foot, but the tide swings up and down … four meters,” he said.
“We really had one of the search engines in Hip Waders today, tied, trying to see if I could walk the river and could not stop. It’s just the current. It’s too strong.”
RCMP initially said that the Canada Rangers were requested to attend, but they decided because “it was too dangerous.”
“You need some very experienced people to go through this land, basically it is Muskeg Bog … it depends almost on your waist. It’s just soft,” said Manaigre.
“We do not have many resources at stake just due to the logistics involved,” he said. “That has been the biggest challenge of this is due to remoteness, dangers with polar bears and wolves.”
Kakekaspan said that Skjottelvik’s family in Norway is trying to raise money, some of which would help Fort Sever will cover the costs in which he has already incurred the search.
He also believes that RCMP has not responded with sufficiently quickly enough resources according to the hard terrain and the urgent nature of the search for Skjottelvik.
“It’s treacherous, but someone should leave, someone needs to leave, and the RCMP is the ones who need to lead him,” Kakekaspan said.
