Four Indians, including baby and teen freeze to death near US-Canada border

The temperature on Wednesday when the bodies were found amid vast snowdrifts, taking into account the wind, was minus 35 degrees Celsius, minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit.

Team Newsable

Toronto, First Published Jan 21, 2022, 9:06 PM IST | Last Updated Jan 21, 2022, 9:10 PM IST

In an unfortunate turn of events, four Indian nationals including an infant and a teen died from exposure to cold weather on the Canadian side of the border with the United States. It appears that they were left abandoned to die in a case of organised human smuggling operation.

A Florida man was charged Thursday with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teenager, were found in Canada near the US border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said Steve Shand, 47, appeared in court earlier Thursday.

The bodies were found Wednesday in the province of Manitoba about 40 feet from the US border near the community of Emerson. The office said the dead were a family of four Indian nationals who were separated from others in a group crossing the border.

The temperature on Wednesday when the bodies were found amid vast snowdrifts, taking into account the wind, was minus 35 degrees Celsius, minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit.

On Wednesday morning, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the province of Manitoba received “concerning information” from their counterparts that the US Customs and Border Protection (USBP) had apprehended a group of individuals who had crossed into the US from Canada, near the town of Emerson in Manitoba, Hindustan Times reported.

The Manitoba RCMP in a release said that they also indicated that one of the adults had items meant for an infant but that no infant was with the group. A search began and RCMP officers found the bodies of three individuals were located on the Canadian side of the border, close to the town of Emerson.

“Fearing there may be additional victims, officers continued their search and located the body of an additional male, believed at this time to be in his mid-teens," the release stated.

The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota issued a release stating, law enforcement encountered five Indian nationals approximately a quarter mile south of the Canadian border that day. They explained that they had walked across the border “expecting to be picked up by someone" and “estimated they had been walking around for over 11 hours.”

One person in the group had a backpack he told officials he was carrying for a family of four they had become separated from that contained children's items such as clothes, a diaper and a toy.

The bodies have been tentatively identified as that family of four, the release from the US Attorney’s Office said.

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