New Delhi:Following a tragic incident in which a family of four Indians, including an infant, were found dead near the US-Canada border, government sources here said on Saturday that Indian missions are in touch with Canadian authorities for ascertaining the details of the incident and the post-mortem of the victims is likely to be carried out on January 24.
As per the initial details, it is believed that an act of human smuggling activity from Canada to the US went horribly wrong as the family of four Indian nationals, including an infant, believed to be from Gujarat, froze to death along the US-Canada border in what reports say was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard.
The US authorities have detained seven people without proper documentation, as well as one US citizen, for allegedly being involved in human smuggling activity from Canada to the US, sources said.
On January 19, they said, US authorities in Minnesota State, near the US-Canada border, came across a group of people who were apparently without proper documentation. Based on information obtained from them, Canadian authorities launched a search and found four bodies in Manitoba province on the Canadian side of the border, they said.
These four people — a man, a woman, a teenage boy and an infant — appeared to have died due to cold, the sources said. The people without proper documentation on the US side, as well as the dead people on the Canadian side, appear to be Indian nationals, they said. However, further efforts are underway to identify them and confirm their nationalities, the sources added.