(NewsNation) — More than a dozen migrants, including children, were caught attempting to cross into Canada in subzero temperatures, officials reported.
Police in Alberta stopped four adults and five children from Venezuela, who were struggling through the snow in -22 F weather, The Guardian reports.
Canadian Police Assistant Commissioner Lisa Moreland said the group was found in “incredibly cold” conditions, putting their lives at risk.
A second group, six adults from Jordan, Sudan, Chad, and Mauritius, was located near Manitoba’s border in a dense forest. Thermal cameras on police planes helped locate them.
Moreland noted in both cases the migrants were dressed inadequately for the extreme cold and urged them to avoid such dangerous border crossings, which often end in tragedy.
“The people might have succumbed to a heartbreaking situation similar to the freezing death of the Patel family,” Moreland said, referencing the infamous 2022 case in which an Indian migrant family — two parents and their 11-year-old daughter — froze to death while trying to make the trek.
The latest incident follows the extradition of a Canadian man to New York on human smuggling charges related to the death of a pregnant Mexican woman. Ana Vasquez-Flores was found in the Great Chazy River in December 2023 after being lost in a failed illegal crossing.
Vasquez-Flores’ death came amid a surge of people crossing into New York and New England from Canada. The incident became an example of the perils migrants face trekking through the wooded and often snowy landscape along the U.S.-Canada border.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.