Indian migrants found dead near Canada-US border

Toronto: Canadian police have recovered the bodies of two more migrants, including that of an Indian woman, who drowned in a river while two families of Indian and Romanian descent were attempting to enter the US from Canada illegally, taking the death toll to eight.

The bodies were found on Friday in a marsh on the riverbank near Akwesasne, a community which straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state. One other person is still missing. The two more bodies recovered included one infant, who was a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent. The second was of a woman who was an Indian national, CTV news reported. Police say the deceased — believed to be two families of Indian and Romanian descent — were trying to cross the St Lawrence River into the United States from Canada.

Among them were two children under the age of three, both Canadian citizens. "Unfortunately, these situations happen. It's not something new," Akwesasne Mohawk Police chief Shawn Dulude said of people trying to cross. "We've seen it happen in the past, and hopefully as we move forward … it's something we can one day eliminate," the officer was quoted as saying by the Montreal Gazette newspaper.