Canadian authorities found the bodies of four people including a baby who apparently froze to death in a blizzard a few meters from the US border along a route used by migrants, officials said on Thursday. The temperature on Wednesday when the bodies were found amid vast snowdrifts, taking into account the wind, was minus-35°C.
“At this very early stage of the investigation, it appears that they all died due to exposure to the cold weather,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement.
The bodies of two adults and a baby were found about 12m from the US border about 10km from the town of Emerson in central Manitoba province.
The body of a fourth person who appeared to be a teenage boy was found later, police said.
Earlier in the day, border agents on the US side detained a group of people who had just crossed over and had baby items with them, but no baby. This triggered a search on both sides of the border.
The first bodies were found after four hours of searching.
The US Department of Justice on Thursday said police had arrested a man along the same route, charging him with human smuggling.
The 47-year-old Florida native was found driving a van with two undocumented Indian nationals about 1km south of the Canadian border, near where the group of migrants was arrested, the department said.
The nationalities of the deceased were not given, although the department said they were “tentatively identified” to be separated members of the same group that was arrested.
RCMP Manitoba Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy told an earlier news conference that she considered these people “victims.”
“We’re very concerned that this attempted crossing may have been facilitated in some way and that these individuals including an infant were left on their own in the middle of a blizzard when the weather had hovered around minus 35 degrees Celsius, factoring the wind,” she said. “These victims face not only the cold weather, but also endless fields, large snowdrifts and complete darkness.”
Police used snowmobiles and other all-terrain vehicles to search the area.
Crossing attempts near Emerson have been down for a year, as the border has been closed due to COVID-19, MacLatchy said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was