2 more bodies found at US-Canada border, taking migrant death toll …
With the discovery of two more bodies on Friday, the death toll from a human smuggling operation from Canada to the United States, reached eight. The deceased in the tragedy include a family from India.
Police and firemen carry a bag off their search boat from the marshland in Akwesasne, Quebec, Canada March 31, 2023. (REUTERS)
In an update, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police said the two bodies recovered on Friday included those of an adult female believed to be an Indian national and an infant, a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent. The eight victims comprised two families of Indian citizens and Romanians including two children, both holding Canadian citizenship.
The statement said, "All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the US from Canada. The circumstances surrounding the deaths continue to be investigated." The tragedy occurred during the course of an attempt to cross the St Lawrence river, which borders Canada and the US.
The region overlaps the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the American state of New York. An overturned vessel was also recovered. Akwesasne Mohawk Police said they are working with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada and America's Homeland Security to confirm the identities of the victims so that next-of-kin notifications may be made.
Police continue to search the waterways for a local, Casey Oakes, who was reported missing on Thursday. The vessel recovered by the police matched the description of that operated by Oakes, the police service's Deputy Chief Lee-Ann O'Brien informed the media. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in Moncton in the province of New Brunswick, described it as "a heartbreaking situation."
This isn't the first time this area has been used as a route by Indians trying to illegally enter the US. In April last year, a tragedy was averted when six Indian nationals were rescued from the freezing St Regis River in the region. That followed "suspicious activity" being reported to the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service about a boat carrying "multiple subjects" on the Saint Regis river and travelling from Cornwall in the province of Ontario.
The six rescued were apprehended, and identified as citizens of India, all aged between 19 and 21 years. That incident occurred three months after four members of family from Gujarat, were found dead due to exposure to extreme winter conditions in the province of Manitoba, near the US border, in what was also a human smuggling operation gone wrong.
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Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media.
He tweets as @anirudhb.
