AKWESASNE | The owner of a marina still in shock heard, helpless, the screams of migrants who died trying to cross a raging Saint-Laurent.
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“These cries, I’ve never heard anything like it in all my life… I hope they haven’t suffered too much. But I know it is”, testifies, the broken voice, Kahentoretha Oakes.
Last Wednesday, like every evening, the resident of Akwesasne opened her window to wish good night “to the great river”, which stretches in front of her home.
But through the usual lapping of the waves and the blowing of the wind, she could make out cries of distress coming from the choppy waters.
“I could hear his pain”
“A man was shouting ‘HEEEEELP’, but it was like being choked by the wind. I could hear his pain,” she says, haunted by this memory.
The call for help likely came from where two families from India and Romania died trying to illegally cross the Canada-US border.
Kahentoretha Oakes immediately dialed 911 and left to pick up her adult son.
A few minutes later, she was whistling with all her might from her large balcony, hoping to hear an answer.
“We listened. But there were no more cries, ”drops the resident.
Two police officers arrived shortly after and tried to see the castaways using a lantern. They left empty-handed.
A night of anguish
In the following hours, the 53-year-old Mohawk struggled to sleep a wink, expecting survivors to dock at her marina at any moment. His dog, Maya, was just as restless.
Nora T. Lamontagne / JdeM
However, the bodies of eight people, including two children, were instead found by the rescue services in the following days in a marshy area of the reserve, a few kilometers from her home.
“I did everything I could, but it breaks my heart … Especially for toddlers,” she laments, her grandchildren playing nearby.
Sadness and contemplation
On Saturday, tragedy continued to be on everyone’s lips in the Aboriginal community straddling Quebec, Ontario and New York State.
Several people gathered around a “condolence fire”, lit the day before in front of the community center near the scene of the tragedy.
“It could have happened elsewhere. But it happened here, and our community needs to point out [leur mort]says a young girl softly, before dropping a few tobacco leaves into the flames.
“Fire is for everyone. The disappeared, their families, those who are in mourning … That’s how I see it, ”added his neighbor, who did not wish to be identified.
Shaken firefighters
In the building next door, volunteer firefighters were resting after searching for a man from the community who is still missing.
Nora T. Lamontagne / JdeM
The search continued Saturday for Casey Oakes of Akwesasne.
Four boats criss-crossed the river looking for him, according to Kevin Sturge Lazore, captain of the Hogansburg-Akwesasne Station 3 volunteer fire department.
The past few days have been trying, especially for those who recovered the bodies of the victims from the freezing waters.
“All I hope is that first responders won’t be haunted by these images. Nobody should see such a thing”, slips with sadness a Mohawk man, around the fire.