Indians amongst 8 migrants discovered lifeless close to Canada-US border

The our bodies have been discovered on Friday in a marsh on the riverbank close to Akwesasne, a group which straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state. One different particular person remains to be lacking.

Searchers search for victims in Akwesasne, Quebec. (Photo: AP)

By Press Trust of India: Canadian police have recovered the our bodies of two extra migrants, together with that of an Indian girl, who drowned in a river whereas two households of Indian and Romanian descent have been trying to enter the US from Canada illegally, taking the dying toll to eight.

The our bodies have been discovered on Friday in a marsh on the riverbank close to Akwesasne, a group which straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state. One different particular person remains to be lacking.

The two extra our bodies recovered included one toddler, who was a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent. The second was of a lady who was an Indian nationwide, CTV information reported.

Police say the deceased — believed to be two households of Indian and Romanian descent — have been making an attempt to cross the St Lawrence River into the United States from Canada. Among them have been two youngsters below the age of three, each Canadian residents.

“Unfortunately, these situations happen. It’s not something new,” Akwesasne Mohawk Police chief Shawn Dulude said of people trying to cross.

“We’ve seen it happen in the past, and hopefully as we move forward â€æ it’s something we can one day eliminate,” the officer was quoted as saying by the Montreal Gazette newspaper.

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Akwesasne police are working with Immigration Canada to assist with identifying the victims and notifying the next of kin. They are also increasing surveillance on the river, it said.

Authorities located the first body in the marsh around 5 pm on Thursday during an aerial search conducted at the request of the Canadian Coast Guard.

Throughout the day on Friday, search crews could be seen wading through a marshy area near the local marina with the help of a light airboat. A helicopter also scanned the river.

The last two bodies were retrieved from the water during the day.

Police recovered two more bodies from the river on Friday, after discovering six bodies and an overturned boat during a missing person search Thursday afternoon, CBC News reported.

They are believed to have been an Indian family and a Romanian family who were attempting to cross into the US, police said, adding, that an Akwesasne resident remains missing.

The bodies were discovered as the result of a search for another missing person, Casey Oakes, that also started Thursday.

He was last seen Wednesday boarding a small, light blue vessel departing from the east end of Cornwall Island, in St. Lawrence.

The vessel Oakes was using was later found near the bodies of the six deceased. Akwesasne police could not confirm whether Oakes has any connection to the victims.

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Dulude would not speculate on what caused the deaths and said a coroner will determine the cause of death.

“It could possibly be something that would have induced this tragedy. It could possibly be a defective boat, it could possibly be human error, and the investigation will decide that,” he said.

A storm that brought high winds and sleet rolled through the area on Wednesday night. “It was not an excellent time to be out on the water,” said Akwesasne deputy police chief Lee-Ann O’Brien.

According to police, there has seen an uptick in human smuggling into the US. Ryan Brissette, a public affairs officer with US Customs and Border Patrol, says the agency had seen a “large uptick in encounters and apprehensions” at the border.

The agency saw more than eight times as many people try to cross from Canada into the U.S. in 2022 compared to previous years, he said. Many of them — more than 64,000 — came through Quebec or Ontario into New York.

“Comparing this space prior to now, it is a vital quantity,” Brissette said.

“There’s a number of completely different causes as to why that is occurring, why people are coming hastily by the northern border. I believe a number of them suppose it is simpler, a straightforward alternative and so they simply do not know the hazard that it poses, particularly within the winter months,” the officer mentioned.

Akwesasne police say there have been 48 incidents of individuals making an attempt to cross illegally into Canada or the United States by the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

In January 2022, the our bodies of 4 Indians, together with a child, have been discovered frozen in Manitoba close to the Canada-US border.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals have been rescued from a sinking boat within the St. Regis River, which runs by Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

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Published On:

Apr 1, 2023