Two Indians are facing charges in connection with the death of an Indian family who perished in a blizzard last year trying to cross from Manitoba to the United States, local media report.
The “agents” in question would be part of the network which organized the crossing which cost the life of the Patel family in January 2022, according to Indian newspapers.
On that day, the migrants would have been advised to walk to the United States, despite the terrible weather conditions and a mercury of -35 degrees C.
“They told them that the snowstorm and the cold were ideal for not being spotted,” police deputy commissioner Chaitanya Mandlik, of the criminal division of Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, told AFP. by the Times of India.
The Patels were part of a group of 11 people attempting the crossing, but they presumably got lost on the way.
Jagdish, Vaishaliben and their children Vihangi, 11, and Dharmik, 3, were finally found frozen to death on January 19, 2022, a few meters from the border.
The two ‘agents’ are now charged with culpable homicide not equivalent to murder, attempted culpable homicide, human trafficking and criminal conspiracy, in addition to impersonating immigration officers, according to GlobalNews.
“The victims were first transported to Toronto and then to Vancouver. Officers then disembarked them in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and let them cross into the United States on their own,” Mandlik said.
Two other suspects are still wanted. One is believed to be in Canada and the other in the United States, according to Indian police.
For its part, the RCMP limited itself to recalling that it continued to work with its international partners to advance the investigation into the deaths in the Patel family.
This story is reminiscent of that of Fritznel Richard, a man of Haitian origin who lost his life in Montérégie while trying to get to the United States during a snowstorm last December.