**UPDATE** Body of missing Attawapiskat hunter recovered

There is a huge sense of relief in Attawapiskat as the body of missing hunter Ian Katalamasit has been recovered.
“The body of Ian Katalamasit was recovered on Friday evening (May 14) at 5:44 p.m.,” said media spokesperson Andrew Koostachin.
The young hunter went missing on April 11 after failing to return home from a spring hunting trip.
Jerry Nakogee, head coordinator; Steve Hookimaw, and Wilbert Wesley of Moosonee Emergency Management Service comprised the search and recovery operation team.
Volunteers had been out on foot and boat patrol for over a month to recover Katalamasit’s body.
Community members found the body by doing a side-by-side sweep of the river in patrol boats just east of the area where it was earlier reported a foot had been caught in the homemade dragging equipment.
“It was in the same area where it was sighted—just a little east of that,” Koostachin said. “The body was there the whole time, but moving with the tide.”
Koostachin describes the recovery as very satisfying.
“It puts the community at peace now that the body has been recovered. The community can now rest and the body can be put to rest in the proper burial ground.”
A community feast was held on Saturday to honour the recovered body and to honour all the volunteers involved in the search.
There was an evening of gospel singing and prayers. “It is nice closure for a tragedy for the community and a devastating loss for the family.”
Koostachin added: “I was asked to say a word of thanks to the Elders, to the searchers, and to the young people--especially the young people really worked hard to find their fellow youth.”
Funeral arrangements have not yet been finalized at this time.