In a tragic incident, four members of an Indian family, including a baby, died on the border between the United States and Canada due to exposure to cold weather, PTI reported.
What exactly happened
In preliminary inquiry, it is believed that they were trying to cross the border into the United States. Their bodies were found near the town of Emerson on the Canadian side of the border.
AFP
The officials said that the temperature in the region at the time was minus 35 degrees Celsius.
What cops said
Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Thursday said that the bodies of four people – two adults, a teen and an infant – were found on the Canadian side of the U.S./Canada border near Emerson on Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy described the deaths of the four persons as a “an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy”.
AP
“At this very early stage of the investigation, it appears that they all died due to exposure to the cold weather,” MacLatchy said. She added that they faced “not only the cold weather, but also endless fields, large snowdrifts and complete darkness,” Reuters reported.
What Indian authorities say
Confirming the nationality of the four people who died, India’s High Commissioner to Canada Ajay Bisaria described the incident as a grave tragedy.
“This is a grave tragedy. An Indian consular team is travelling today from @IndiainToronto to Manitoba to coordinate and help. We will work with Canadian authorities to investigate these disturbing events,” Bisaria tweeted.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed shock at the deaths, according to ANI. “Have asked our ambassadors in the US and Canada to urgently respond to the situation,” he said.
Arrests made so far
On Thursday, authorities in the United States charged a man with human smuggling in connection with the case. The man, 47-year-old Steve Shand, was arrested near the border with Canada while he was driving two undocumented Indians.
Similar case in the past
Earlier, United States border patrol officials found five more Indians traveling on foot. One of them reportedly had a backpack belonging to the family that died.
“The five Indian nationals explained that they had walked across the border expecting to be picked up by someone,” the Toronto Star quoted the United States District Attorney’s office in Minnesota as saying. “The group estimated they had been walking around for over 11 hours.”
