By Naveen Kapoor
New Delhi [India], January 22 (ANI): Post mortem of four people who died due to cold near the US – Canada border will be conducted on January 24, according to sources. Consulate General of India in Toronto had sent a consular team to Manitoba, which is now liaising with local authorities to render any consular help regarding the four dead people. The Consulate General as well as the High Commission in Ottawa are also in touch with Canadian provincial and federal authorities for ascertaining details of this tragedy.
US authorities have detained seven people without proper documentation, as well as one US citizen, for allegedly being involved in human smuggling activity from Canada to the US. One of them is still hospitalized due to cold-related injuries (earlier one more person had been hospitalized). Sources told ANI: “On the US side, the Consulate General of India in Chicago has urgently sent a consular team to Minneapolis, which is now coordinating and rendering consular assistance. They have sought consular access to the detained persons. The Consulate and the Embassy in Washington D.C. are also in touch with US Department of Justice, and the US Customs and Border Police.”
On January 19, US authorities in Minnesota State, near the US – Canada border, came across a group of people who were apparently without proper documentation. Based on information obtained from them, Canadian authorities launched a search and found four bodies in Manitoba province on the Canadian side of the border. These four people (a man, a woman, a teenage boy, an infant) appeared to have died due to the cold. Indian Missions and Posts will continue to extend all assistance another source told ANI. (ANI)
