Two female bartenders from the same downtown Whitehorse bar say they have been sexually assaulted in the last week.

The alleged assaults were reported by two female bartenders at the 98 Hotel. The Star is not publishing their names to protect their privacy.

The first incident is said to have happened outside the 98.

On Oct. 18, a part-time bartender left the bar to go out for a cigarette.

As she stood to the side of the building, a man ran up behind her and threw her to her to the ground, she told the Star.

"I ran as fast as I could to the front door and he whipped me down on the floor and I was screaming and he was very tough, and I was fighting him as hard as I could,” she said.

"He was trying to rip my pants off and he ripped my buttons and belt and I was screaming and then he put his knee in my mouth.”

The victim said the man was masturbating as he held her down.

The ordeal ended when a female bar patron was able to wrestle the man off her long enough for her to run back into the bar and call Whitehorse RCMP.

She was able to provide the Star with a description of the man who attacked her.

"He's probably about five feet, six inches, he had a grayish beard, he had blondish hair and he drove a red truck. I think it had dualies (double tires) on it, dualie tires. He was bigger, a heavier set guy,” she said.

The man is said to have been hanging around the bar that night.

"Apparently, one of the other girls who came in here said she'd seen a guy sitting in a red truck outside of the Rock, just sitting there,” said the woman.

"She said it creeped her out because it was just weird. A white guy, ‘cause you know ‘cause they don't just sit outside; it didn't look right,” said the victim.

A week later, another 98 Hotel bartender claims, she was assaulted.

On Tuesday, the second woman was walking home along Fifth Avenue.

She had been working at the 98 Hotel during the day, finishing her shift at 4 p.m. and continuing to drink at the bar until about 11 p.m., she said.

Afterward she went to Lizzard's Bar, but, finding it "wasn't her scene,” she headed to a house party.

On her way home, at about 3 a.m., she was attacked.

"I was drinking last night,” she said. "I had a few drinks and was walking home along Fifth Avenue and heard footsteps running,” she said.

"I was jumped on from behind and I was thrown to the ground. I could feel my pants go down and he was trying to enter me from behind.

"I rolled over and he ripped my shirt. I just kept screaming and fighting, and I finally got him off me and then I ran like hell back to the 98.”

She said the man chased her for a block to Fourth Avenue, then turned and ran in the opposite direction.

She also has a description of her attacker.

"He had a grey beard and he was wearing a toque,” she said. "I could feel his beard on my skin. He was big, big enough to knock me down, and I am a big girl,” she said.

"He was taller than me and I am 5'6; I guess he was chubby.”

The incidents have staff at the 98 concerned.

Bartender Al Green was working on the night of the first incident. He remembers serving a man with a similar description earlier in the evening.

"I saw a guy in here, but I am not sure if it's the same guy or not,” said Green.

"All's I know is he is a large man with a reddish brown beard with grey flakes.”

Since the attack, employees at the 98 Hotel have been extra-cautious about the safety of their female employees.

"We have to walk the girls to their car and make sure there is no one in it,” said Green. "They can't go anywhere without us.

"My girls don't go nowhere, not since (the first victim) got jumped there.”

The RCMP say they are investigating both incidents.

They also assure the public that acts of violence, such as sexual assault, are always top priorities for the police.

"We have no idea at this point whether the two incidents are related,” said Sgt. Don Rogers, the spokesperson for the RCMP.

"It is too early to rule out whether they are connected but they are absolutely being investigated, and we are following up on on any and all leads,” he said.

Rogers said each officers shift will be apprised of any developing information in the two investigations and will be putting "all resources” into solving them.

They don't believe the assaults are part of an increase in sexual assaults in the community.

Social media have been awash with false rumours about sharply escalating sexual assault trends in Whitehorse.

Since last May, 29 sexual offences have been reported to the RCMP, said Rogers.

Of these, 24 were cases of sexual assault, three were cases of sexual interference involving young persons and two were other kinds of sexual assault, he said.

In the same period last year, there were 31 cases of sexual assault and two cases of sexual interference.

"The numbers are in line with previous years,” he said, "but any number of sexual assaults are unacceptable.”

But sexual assault is far from uncommon in the community.

Last Wednesday, several hours after the first assault at the 98 Hotel, another woman was sexually assaulted in Riverdale. She ended up in Whitehorse General Hospital.

"We are looking into an incident that happened in Riverdale,” said Rogers. "But we have no reason to believe those incidents are connected.”