“We just went out for the day.”
That’s all Shaun Kocuiba wanted to do when he and five of his cousins took two boats out on Eltrut Lake, northeast of near Mine Centre, on Saturday afternoon.
He never bargained they would get lost and have to spend a night on an island.
“We got lost and ran out of fuel. I’d been up there before. But we got turned around–there’s lots of islands on that lake,” he remarked.
They had begun their return trip to the landing around 6 p.m. but the loss of bearings, and corresponding fuel consumption, left them no choice but find a stable place to stay the night by 10 p.m.
“The other boat was out of fuel, and I had a little in mine, so we went to the closest island, towing the other boat behind me,” noted Kocuiba. “It was getting dark.”
He said their overnight stay was “no picnic.”
“We were just hoping somebody would be able to find us,” said Kocuiba, noting the group had no tent or blankets to keep them warm as they never expected themselves to be stranded.
“We just had to keep the fire going.”
But help was on the way when family members noticed the group had not returned.
“My dad [Carl] was up first thing in the morning. He went up to where we had parked the vehicles, and seeing they were still there, called somebody else with a boat to come up,” Kocuiba explained.
In the meantime, the OPP also had been contacted and an officer was dispatched from Atikokan.
Around 11 a.m. on Sunday, Kocuiba and the rest of his group saw a glimmer of hope.
“We saw a boat in the distance and it went on by. Then it came back, and they spotted the boats on the shore. Actually, it didn’t take them too long.
“I guess we weren’t too far off course–maybe a half-hour or so,” he added.
But Kocuiba said he was even more glad to get to mainland. “We were home by 3 p.m., and, oh yeah, I was pretty glad to get there,” he remarked.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
