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When Michael Pijogge’s dad didn’t show up at the dock in Natuashish on Friday, he feared the worst — and was plagued by guilt.
“I had this real bad feeling it was my fault,” said Pijogge.
Pijogge’s flight back to Nain had been grounded for bad weather, so his dad said he’d get in the boat to pick him and his partner up.
Pijogge feared his father would have an accident.
“I told him not to go but I didn’t try hard enough,” Pijogge told CBC.
When his dad, Julius Lampe, along with Ephriam Merkuratsuk, didn’t arrive later that day, it prompted a multi-day search for the two missing boaters.
Michael Pijogge worried for his missing father this weekend, but also knew he could live off the land. (CBC)
‘He knows how to survive’
While search teams scoured the land and sea, Pijogge worried for his family. But he also stayed confident in his father’s survival skills. He hoped they’d only run out of gas, and hadn’t had an accident.
“I knows my dad can live off the land. So I knows my dad is OK if he didn’t have an accident,” he said.
“He knows the land, see, and he knows how to survive.”
And Pijogge had reason to believe.
Turns out the men had run low on gas, so they tried to find shelter before going empty, Pijogge said.
Slept in abandoned cabin with no doors
They found an abandoned cabin with no doors, Lampe told him. They stayed warm by keeping close and holding each other while sleeping.
Lampe lit a fire on top of a hill, Pijogge said, and that’s how rescue crews spotted them — ending Nain’s weekend nightmare.
Rescue crews brought the missing boaters, Julius Lampe and Ephriam Merkuratsuk, back to Nain on Sunday. (Rutie Lampe/Facebook)
When a helicopter brought them back on Sunday, people were “overwhelmed” and cried tears of joy, Pijogge said.
People sobbed, embraced the men, and thanked rescue crews.
People embraced the missing boaters, as Julius Lampe and Ephriam Merkuratsuk were brought home on Sunday. (Rutie Lampe/Facebook)
Neither Lampe nor Merkuratsuk were able to do interviews on Monday, but Pijogge said the men are safe.
“They were tired and they were cold, but other than that they were safe.”
After an anxious weekend search, two missing boaters have been found safe and are back with their families. The CBC’s Laura Howells reports.
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