Marten Hartwell was a German-Canadian pilot who worked within the Arctic circle region of Canada, routinely flying small planes between remote airfields across the country. On 8 November, 1972 Hartwell was in Cambridge Bay in the Northwest Territories after dropping off some prospectors at an area called the Barrens.
He wasn’t scheduled to make the Flight to Yellowknife, but when requested to do so since he was there anyway, and due to the nature of the flight which was a medical emergency, he agreed to take the 3 passengers. These included a pregnant Inuk woman, a 14 year old Inuk boy named David Kootook, and an attending nurse.
After leaving the YCB airfield at Cambridge bay, bad weather conditions set in right away and after travelling 430 miles, Hartwell crashed into a mountain side, killing the nurse on impact and severely wounding himself and the pregnant woman. Due to the bad weather, Hartwell was over 100 miles off course when he crashed, and at the time had no idea where he was.
The crash happened Just south of Hottah Lake, a very remote spot far from any kind of settlement. The pregnant woman died several hours after the crash from her injuries, and Hartwell was trying to work out what to do about his 2 broken ankles. He had also managed to fracture his left knee and his nose, and had it not been for Kootook, Hartwell would surely have died sitting in the plane.
Since the aircraft wasn’t made to be used as a shelter in -30 °C weather, it did very little to keep the pair warm, so Kootook made a make-shift tent out of some sleeping bags and spare clothing. Though it wasn’t the best place stay, it allowed a fire to be built in the center and provided much more warmth than the plane could.
If your ever stuck somewhere in the arctic, there’s no one in the world who could help you survive better than a native Innuit. Even though he was 14, Kootook had lived all his life in the arctic, with -40 °C weather being a casual tuesday to him. He knew exactly how to build a shelter, find wood and make fires, and scavenge anything useful from nature.
Without Kootook there’s no question that Hartwell would have died, even if he was still able to walk. The average daily temperature for the first 2 weeks they were stranded was -37 °C, which required a fire to be burning constantly, and possibly all this activity caused Kootook to die after 20 days from starvation, something that may have not happened if both of them were able to contribute.
Hartwell didn’t have the option of walking though, and after Kootook died he stayed in the tent and rarely lit a fire. As he was close to starvation, he decided he had no choice but to eat or die, and so consumed some of the leg of the nurse who died in the crash.
The planes emergency beacon was activated as the plane crashed, but its limited range was unable to reach any other aircraft. The radio he had was also to short range and couldn’t pick up any signals. As for a rescue attempt one was launched quickly after the plane didn’t check in, but because Hartwell had flown so far off course in the bad weather, everyone was looking in the wrong place.
Because nothing was found after 3 weeks of searching, the attempt was called off, but resumed again 3 days later due to public pressure. 31 days after the crash, a Canadian armed forces plane flew over the area and picked up the signal from the distress beacon. 3 Planes were dispatched and paratroopers dropped over the crash site with supplies. Since planes couldn’t land there, a helicopter was dispatched and rescued Hartwell on 8 December , 1972.