Jupi - also named in local media as Jupi Angootealuk - had been on a polar bear hunting trip with his 67-year-old uncle, Jimmy Nakoolak, since last Friday. They had left their snowmobile and stepped onto the sea ice when it cracked and floated off, Canada's newspaper reported. The ice cracked again the next day, separating the uncle and his nephew. They were reported missing on Saturday, prompting a search operation. Rescuers found the uncle on Sunday morning close to shore, Mr Zebedee said.

"He was all soaked and wet and started crawling at least two miles on his knees because he was so tired and it was hard for his legs," Jerry Panniuq, the local mayor who spoke to Mr Nakoolak in hospital, told . By Sunday, the sheet of ice Jupi was on had drifted four kilometres from the shore when he spotted three polar bears, an adult and two older cubs. "Polar bears are the only animal that will definitely stalk a human and eat them. Nobody goes out on the land here without a gun," Mr Zebedee told the . Jupi had a gun and, in self-defence, authorities say he was forced to shoot the adult bear. On Sunday, pilot Phil Amos spotted the teen on the ice patch and circled him for about 40 minutes, but Jupi did not wave at all, perhaps fearing it might provoke the two cubs.

"I don't think he really wanted to move because the bears were so close," Mr Amos told local media. "I kind of flew down to see if I could get the bears to move away, but they were very adamant about sticking around their mum." While the air crews were able to drop Jupi some chocolate and an emergency kit containing torches, darkness set in before they could rescue him and the teen was consigned to another freezing night on the ice sheet. The need to suspend the search because of darkness has now prompted calls for infrared sensors to be installed aboard Canadian search aircraft. At daybreak on Monday, an aerial search team spotted Jupi again and parachuted down to rescue him. Authorities were amazed at his condition.

"Even after spending hours alone, huddling in temperatures that dipped below -15 degrees, the teen appeared to be in decent shape. He was conscious, slightly hypothermic and appeared to have some frostbite," Canadian rescue official Jean-Pierre Sharp told the . Rob Hedley, senior administrative officer at Coral Harbour, told Canadian TV: "It's quite incredible that he's in such good shape. As much as the polar bear is a bit of a dramatic aspect of it, he had his weapon with him, thank goodness. "But also it's basically surviving three days out on the land with little food or water. I was expecting this not to end as happily as it did." There was a similar happy ending in the the same region about a year ago, when Australian Oliver Edwards-Neil survived 18 hours floating on a sheet of ice after his plane crashed. The 25-year-old survived without food or water in -20 degree temperatures, and was aware of the threat of attack by polar bears but, unlike Jupi, did not confront any.

"We saw a couple of seals in the morning ... apparently there are polar bears but thank God we didn't see them," Mr Edwards-Neil said last year. Mr Edwards-Neil, and his flying partner who was stranded with him, ended up hopping from one ice-sheet to another in a bid to reach land before they were rescued by a fishing vessel. Jupi's amazing survival was described as "bittersweet" by Joan Griffin, general manager of the aviation company that first spotted him, as two cubs had been left orphaned while a young man had been found alive. "That's the glory of the Arctic," she told . "A 17-year-old young man and he's seasoned enough that he was able to save his own life - so very resilient. "It is amazing."

with AP