A 21-year-old man who was reported missing while travelling from Salluit to Puvirnituq has been found after a two-day search.

Mosusie Tukkiapik left Salluit on April 4 at around 4 p.m., travelling alone on a Bombardier snowmobile, according to the Nunavik Police Service.

With a full tank of gas and an extra 10-litre canister, he had enough fuel to make it to Puvirnituq and back, a round-trip distance of about 500 kilometres, police said.

About three hours after departing, Tukkiapik sent a message through a Starlink connection confirming he had reached the Kovik area about 90 kilometres from Akulivik.

That was the last communication he sent, though, and he didn’t reach Puvirnituq.

On April 5 at around 11 a.m., the search and rescue team in Salluit was notified and two members left at 2:30 p.m. to make a first attempt to locate Tukkiapik, police say.

The pair reached Kovik that night, contacting their team to report they hadn’t found Tukkiapik but would follow his snowmobile tracks.

Meanwhile, Nunavik police contacted search-and-rescue in both Puvirnituq and Akulivik to seek their help, but both declined. Their contact in Puvirnituq said the place where Tukkiapik was last seen was too far away for them to help.

Police also struck out in getting help from other agencies.

A Canadian Armed Forces plane was scheduled to fly to the area but had to be cancelled, Quebec provincial police couldn’t get a Starlink or satellite tower connection for communication, and the Canadian Rangers were unable to deploy until the next day.

Around noon on April 6, a de Havilland Twin Otter plane carrying a police officer and seven other passengers searched the area of Akulivik, Inukjuak and Kovik.

They found snowmobile tracks, but still no sign of Tukkiapik.

Finally, four searchers from Salluit, including two Rangers, joined the first team that had gone out to look and at 10:45 p.m. they found Tukkiapik alive and well.

In an interview, Nunavik Police Services deputy Chief Jean-François Morin said a belt in the motor of Tukkiapik’s snowmobile broke, disabling the machine, and he had not brought a spare.