Indian family among eight people were found dead in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Akwesasne’s police team said that all of them died while attempting to cross the US-Canada border.
QUEBEC – An Indian family was among the eight people who drowned in the St. Lawrence River while trying to trespass into the United States from Canada illegally. The bodies were found in an area along the US-Canada border, the authorities said on Friday. Out of the eight bodies that were found, two of them were children, the police said.
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Indian family died while crossing St. Lawrence River
The Canadian media (CBC and CTV) reported that the bodies were recovered by police on Thursday afternoon near an overturned boat in a marshy area near Quebec, during an aerial search. The dead were identified as two families, one from India and another from Romania, said Lee-Ann O’Brien, deputy chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service.
According to local police reports, they found the first body around 5:00 p.m. in an area in Tsi Snaihne (Snye) Akwesasne in Quebec. The Police Marine Unit was later joined by the Hogansburg Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department as they continued their search for more bodies.
She added that they still have not located the body of an infant who already had Canadian citizenship. Adding further that the missing infant belonged to the Romanian family. It was confirmed that the search operation would continue until all the bodies were recovered.
Cause of death unknown
The Akwesasne Mohawk Service Team said that they have called upon the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force, and the Ontario Provincial Police air support units for further assistance in the investigation. Adding to that, they have also increased the surveillance on the river.
The families may have lost their lives in an attempt to cross the border. O’Brien suspected that there might be a smuggling chain operating in the area that could have had a hand in the deaths. Although she soon dismissed such claims and said that it was too early to put on such labels.
Multiple tests, including a post-mortem and toxicology tests, will be done to establish the cause of death. Meanwhile, both the police service team and Immigration Canada have started working together to identify the deceased people, according to reports from Canada.
Prime Minister Trudeau agonized
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was deeply concerned about the situation. Speaking at a news conference in New Brunswick, he said he wanted answers to questions about what happened to the two families and expressed his sadness over the deaths of an infant and other family members.
He later went on to add that a proper investigation would be carried out to look into the matter and that strict measures would be taken to address such issues in the future.
François Legault, the premier of Quebec, offered his condolences to the families, describing it as a horrible drama, while Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante tweeted that she did not expect anyone to go through such a tragedy.
Indian family the latest to join a growing number of Indian trespassers
According to the Akwesasne police team, as many as 48 incidents have been reported in the past where people tried to illegally trespass into Canada or the United States through the Mohawk territory.
Six Indian were rescued from a sinking boat in the freezing St. Regis River last year. In another report, the police said they found the bodies of four Indians, including a baby, frozen in Manitoba near the Canada-US border in January 2022. Most of the trespassers were of Indian and Romanian descent, said the Akwesasne police team.
