Six people, including a child, who were seeking to enter the United States irregularly from Canada were found dead Thursday in a swampy area on Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. Another child is still missing.
According to the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, the six people came from two families of different origins: one Indian, the other Romanian. The still wanted child would be from the Romanian family.
According to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), which came to the aid of the Mohawk police on Thursday, four bodies were spotted around 3:30 p.m. by a rescue team that came to the area by helicopter. The crew subsequently landed in Cornwall to refuel, then returned to the area where they had found the first bodies and discovered two more. On their Facebook account, Akwesasne police say the first body was found at 5 p.m.
The police department says it is still awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death of the six people. In an email, a CAF spokesman, Trevor Reid, says they are still looking for two more people in the area. She did not specify if any of them were the missing child. However, it is known that a member of the Mohawk community was reported missing on March 29.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.
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