US border officials on Wednesday said that the four dead bodies found by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) near the US-Canada border crossing in Manitoba could be Indian citizens, according to a report by news agency BBC. All four died due to frigid temperatures due to blizzards and extreme cold weather.
The report also quoted US officials saying that the deceased were attempting to cross into the US. It also said that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) started a search after US custom and border patrol officials apprehended a man with items needed for an infant. The RCMP started a broader search immediately armed with snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles amid the inclement weather conditions along with the US customs and border officials.
The group were located metres away from the US border after a wide search was carried out on both sides of the border. Search operations continued even after the discovery by respective teams.
Manitoba RCMP commissioner Jane MacLatchy called the incident a ‘heartbreaking tragedy’. “What I am about to share is going to be difficult for many people to hear. (The group was) on their own in the middle of a blizzard and faced not only the cold weather but endless fields, large snowdrifts and complete darkness,” MacLatchy said in a press release accessed by the BBC.
Following her press conference, US officials tentatively identified the deceased to be an Indian family. They also said that they apprehended two other Indians trying to cross into the US who sustained serious injuries and were hospitalised later.
US officials also encountered a group of five Indian citizens who were walking for more than 11 hours as they were waiting for ‘someone to pick them up’. Among them was the person who was carrying items for an infant and said that he was separated from the group.
The officials found the five Indian citizens while transporting a group of undocumented migrants being driven by an American citizen from Florida, who was arrested later. Among the undocumented migrants travelling with the arrested Florida man, two were Indians. They along with other undocumented migrants were inside a 15-person van close to the border area.
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