4 Indians now confirmed dead in human smuggling operation at Canada-US border: Police

Toronto: Four Indian nationals were among the eight victims of a human smuggling operation that led to a tragedy along the Canada-United States border on Friday.

Local law enforcement has not released the names of the four Indian citizens. In an update on Saturday, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police said, “The identities of the four Indian nationals have not yet been confirmed and next of kin have not yet been notified. Until confirmed, names will not be released to the public.”

They released the identities of two of the other victims, both Romanian nationals – 28-year-old Florin Iordache and his wife Cristina (Monalisa) Zenaida Iordache, also 28. Florin Iordache had two Canadian passports in his possession. These were of two infants victims aged one and two.

“The circumstances surrounding the deaths continue to be investigated,” police said.

According to Canadian media reports, as yet unconfirmed, the Indian citizens may have been from Gujarat.

The news outlet Globe and Mail noted that “Akwesasne straddles the Canada-US border, and has territory in Quebec, Ontario and New York State, and is known for being a transit point for human and contraband smuggling because of its location”.

First responders, numbering nearly 40, continue to explore the marshy area where the bodies were recovered on Thursday and Friday.

Police are also searching for a “person of interest”, a local resident named Casey Oakes.

The tragedy occurred during the course of an attempt to cross the St Lawrence river, which borders Canada and the US. The region overlaps the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the American state of New York. An overturned vessel was also recovered.

Oakes was reported missing on Thursday. The vessel recovered by the police matched the description of that operated by him.

This isn’t the first time this area has been used as a route by Indians trying to illegally enter the US. In April last year, another tragedy was averted when six Indian nationals were rescued from the freezing St Regis River in the region. That followed “suspicious activity” being reported to the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service about a boat carrying “multiple subjects” on the Saint Regis river and travelling from Cornwall in the province of Ontario.

That information was transmitted to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department. They “responded and observed the vessel taking on water and sinking in the Saint Regis River in Akwesasne. Six of those rescued and apprehended were identified as citizens of India, all aged between 19 and 21 years, and were charged with Improper Entry by Alien. They all were natives of Gujarat.

That incident occurred three months after four members of family from Gujarat, were found dead due to exposure to extreme winter conditions in the province of Manitoba, near the US border, in what was also a human smuggling operation gone wrong.