JOIN USFour Indians, including a baby, die in a freezing blizzard while crossing over from Canada to US
Four Indians, including a baby and a teen, died in a freezing blizzard at a border town in Canada while illegally crossing over to the United States.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asked India’s diplomatic and consular missions in Canada and the United States to respond to the situation after reports reached New Delhi that the mortal remains of four Indians – a man, a woman, a baby and a teen-aged boy – were found at Emerson, a border village in Manitoba in Canada. The bodies were found just about 9-12 metres away from the Canada-US border.
“Shocked by the report that 4 (four) Indian nationals, including an infant, have lost their lives at the Canada-US border. Have asked our Ambassadors in the US and Canada to urgently respond to the situation,” Jaishankar posted on Twitter on Friday.
“This is a grave tragedy,” Ajay Bisaria, New Delhi’s envoy to Ottawa, tweeted. India’s ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, too called it an “unfortunate and tragic incident”.
They were apparently members of a group of Indians, who were trying to sneak into the US from Canada with the help of a human trafficking racket. Seven other members of the group were detained by the US Customs and Border Protection officers after crossing over to the US from Canada. Two of them were detained in North Dakota in the US, when they were being driven away in a van by Steve Shand, who was later arrested for human smuggling. Five were spotted and detained when they were still trekking on snow after crossing over to the US from Canada.
Some of the detained Indians had to be taken to a hospital for emergency medical care as they were exhausted and suffered frostbites after trekking through driving snow and biting chilly winds for almost 11 hours. At least one of them would require partial amputation of her hand.
One of the detainees had items meant for infants in his backpack, although the group intercepted by the US Customs and Border Protection officers included no baby. Questioning of the detainees revealed that a family with an infant had been left behind on Canada’s side of the US-Canada border as they could not keep pace with others.
After receiving the information from the US Customs and Border Protection agents, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers launched a search and recovered the bodies of the four Indians – an adult male, an adult female, an infant and a boy in his mid-teens.
“We are very concerned that this may have been facilitated in some way and that these individuals, including an infant, were left in the middle of a blizzard when the weather hovered around minus 35 degree Celsius when factoring the wind,” the RCMP’s Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said in a statement. “These victims faced not only the cold weather but also endless fields, large snowdrifts, and complete darkness.”
The High Commission of India in Ottawa swung into action. A team of officials from the Consulate General of India in Toronto already started for Manitoba to coordinate with local authorities. “We will work with Canadian authorities to investigate these disturbing events.” Bisaria, High Commissioner of India in the capital of Canada, posted on Twitter.
“We are in touch with (the) US authorities on their ongoing investigation,” Sandhu, India’s ambassador to the US, tweeted. A team of officials from the Consulate General of India in Chicago started for Minnesota “to coordinate and provide any assistance required,” he said.
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