Six bodies found near Canada border with US
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/thenational/KOYOAJKWIV7GJ4JRK7IRTX5XWA.jpg)
Six bodies have been found in a marshy area of Quebec near Canada[1]'s border with New York[2] state.
The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service said they were awaiting the results of postmortem and toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.
They said they were still trying to identify the dead and their status in Canada.
It was immediately known if they were migrants trying to cross the border, police said on Thursday.
The bodies were found in Tsi Snaihne area which lied on the southern shore of the St.
Lawrence River in Quebec, east of Akwesasne.
"The first body was located around 5pm, in a marsh area in Tsi Snaihne, Akwesasne, Quebec," police wrote on social media. "There is no threat to the public at this time."
Last month, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police reported an increase in illegal entries through their lands and waterways.
They said some migrants required hospital treatment.
In January, the force said people involved in human smuggling had attempted to use shorelines along the area's St Lawrence River.
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a plan last week to close a loophole to an immigration agreement that allowed thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to move between the two countries along a back road linking New York state to Quebec.
The deal closing an illegal border crossing point about 105km east of Akwesasne took effect on Saturday.
Updated: March 31, 2023, 4:59 AM