4 Indians, including infant found ‘frozen to death’ along US-Canada border, EAM S Jaishankar reacts

Investigators in the US and Canada believe the deaths are linked to a larger human trafficking operation that unfolded on Wednesday as US law enforcement arrested 47-year-old Steve Shand years from Florida near the border and then encountered more Indians who said they were trying to cross the border into the United States

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he was shocked to hear of the incident. Jaishankar tweeted: “Shocked by the report that 4 Indian nationals including a baby lost their lives at the Canada-US border. Asked our ambassadors in the United States and Canada to respond urgently to the situation.

According to court documents, a US Border Patrol in North Dakota stopped a van just south of the Canadian border on Wednesday. Shand was driving and was with two undocumented Indian nationals. Inside the vehicle, officers found crates of plastic cups, bottled water, bottled juice and snacks.

Manitoba RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy holds a news conference in Winnipeg on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (Associated Press)

While leading the three men back to the North Dakota Border Patrol Station, officers spotted another group of five Indian nationals walking.

They said they had crossed the border and expected to be picked up by someone. The group said they estimated they walked for more than 11 hours, the report added.

A woman repeatedly stopped breathing as she was taken to hospital. Court documents indicate that her hand will have to be partially amputated. A man was also hospitalized with frostbite but was later released.

One of the men in the group was carrying a backpack containing baby supplies – clothes, a diaper and a toy. Court documents say he told officers he was from a family that split from their group overnight.

MacLatchy said work was underway to identify the victims, but at this point it appears they all died from exposure to cold, according to the report. REUTERS/Lyle Stafford

The bodies discovered in Canada have been tentatively identified as those of the family of four, according to the statement from the US Attorney’s office.

In Winnipeg, Canada, on Thursday, Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy told a news conference that once informed the family may still be in Manitoba, the officers immediately began searching the area.

After a difficult search, she said, officers found three bodies together – a man, a woman and a baby – just 10 meters from the border. The search continued and a teenager was found a short distance away. We think they died of exposure. “It’s an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy,” MacLatchy said.

They were wearing winter clothes, she said, but that wouldn’t have been enough to save them in the freezing conditions.

“These victims had to deal with not only cold weather, but also endless fields, large snowdrifts and total darkness,” MacLatchy said, adding that the wind chill had brought the temperature down to minus 35C. vs.

On Friday, India’s Ambassador to Canada, Ajay Bisaria, tweeted that Indian authorities were working with Canadian officials. Calling it a “serious tragedy”, he said an “Indian consular team is traveling today” from the Indian Embassy in Toronto to Manitoba “to coordinate and assist… We will work with Canadian authorities to investigate on these disturbing events”.

Dave Carlson, reeve of the municipality of Emerson-Franklin in Canada, said he was surprised to learn of the four deaths since illegal crossings had dropped significantly in recent years.

“If you look at the political climate on both sides of the border, it’s just mind-boggling to me that anyone has had this sense of desperation trying to cross in extreme conditions.”

(With PTI inputs)