The bodies were found Friday in a swamp along the river near Akwesasane, a community that spans Quebec, Ontario and New York state. Another person is still missing.
Searchers are looking for victims in Akwesasan, Quebec. (Photo: AP)
by Press Trust of IndiaCanadian police have recovered the bodies of two more migrants, including an Indian woman, who drowned in a river while two families of Indian and Romanian origin tried to enter the US illegally from Canada, leading to The death toll rose to eight.
The bodies were found Friday in a swamp along the river near Akwesasane, a community that spans Quebec, Ontario and New York state. Another person is still missing.
Two more bodies were recovered, including an infant who was a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent. The other belonged to a woman who was an Indian national, CTV News reported.
Police say the deceased – believed to be two families of Indian and Romanian origin – were trying to cross the St. Lawrence River from Canada into the United States. Among them were two children under the age of three, both of whom were Canadian citizens.
“Unfortunately, situations like this happen. It’s nothing new,” Akwesne Mohawk Police Chief Shawn Dulude said of people trying to cross.
The Montreal Gazette newspaper quoted the official as saying, “We’ve seen this happen in the past, and hopefully as we move forward … it’s something we can eliminate one day.”
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Akwesasne Police are working with Immigration Canada to assist in identifying victims and notifying next of kin. They are also increasing surveillance on the river, he said.
Authorities found the first body in the marshes at 5 p.m. Thursday during an aerial search requested by the Canadian Coast Guard.
Throughout the day on Friday, search teams could be seen wading through a marshy area near the local marina with the help of a light airboat. A helicopter also scanned the river.
The last two bodies were retrieved from the water during the day.
Police recovered two more bodies from the river on Friday after six bodies and an overturned boat were found during a missing-person search Thursday afternoon, CBC News reported.
One Akwesne resident is missing, police said, adding that they are believed to be an Indian family and a Romanian family who were attempting to enter the US.
The discovery of the bodies resulted from a search for another missing person, Casey Oakes, that began on Thursday.
He was last seen boarding a small, pale blue vessel off the east end of Cornwall Island in the St. Lawrence on Wednesday.
The ship Oakes was using is later found with six dead bodies nearby. Akwesasne police could not confirm whether Oakes had any connection to the victims.
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Dulud did not speculate on what caused the death and said a coroner would determine the cause of death.
“It could be anything that could have caused this tragedy. It could be a faulty boat, it could be human error, and the investigation will determine that,” he said.
On Wednesday night, thunderstorm and hail accompanied by strong wind knocked in the area. “It was not a good time to be out on the water,” said Lee-Ann O’Brien, Akwesasane’s deputy police chief.
According to the police, there has been a rise in human trafficking in America. Ryan Brissett, a public affairs officer with the US Customs and Border Patrol, says the agency had seen a “huge increase in encounters and apprehensions” at the border.
He said the agency projects more than eight times as many people trying to cross from Canada to the US in 2022 than in previous years. Many of them – more than 64,000 – came to New York via Quebec or Ontario.
“Comparing this area to what it has been in the past, this is a significant number,” Brissett said.
“There are many different reasons why this is happening, why people are suddenly coming through the northern border. Do not know that this happens especially in the winter months,” the official said.
Akwesne police say there have been 48 incidents of people trying to cross illegally into Canada or the United States through the Mohawk area since January, and most of them are of Indian or Romanian descent.
In January 2022, the frozen bodies of four Indians, including a child, were found in Manitoba near the Canada-US border.
In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which passes through Akwesne Mohawk territory.
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