Four people, including an infant, were found dead near the Canadian border after failing to make it across due to extremely low temperatures and blizzard conditions.
Canadian police found the group — including a man, woman, a young boy believed to be a teenager, and an infant — buried in the snow after U.S. border agents alerted them following a separate apprehension Wednesday.
“These victims faced not only the cold weather but endless fields, large snowdrifts, and complete darkness,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy, according to the Guardian.
U.S. border agents stopped five other Indian nationals who had walked across the border from Manitoba. One traveler was carrying a backpack filled with items for a small child and told agents he was carrying it for a family that had gotten separated from their group during the night.
MacLatchy noted RCMP was searching for other possible survivors or victims.
“I also have a message to anyone who’s thinking of crossing the border in Manitoba, either heading south or north: Just don’t do it,” MacLatchy said. “Do not listen to anyone who tells you they can get you to your destination safely. They cannot. Even with proper clothing, it is not a journey that is possible.”
Temperatures had recently dipped to 31 below zero. MacLatchy called the terrain “virtually impassable” with deep snowdrifts. She added that RCMP required all-terrain vehicles during the search.
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Earlier Wednesday, U.S. border agents stopped a Florida man driving a van near the Canadian border in a rural area between Minnesota and North Dakota carrying two undocumented Indian nationals. Steve Shand, 47, was arrested on human smuggling charges.
