Family who died in freezing cold by US-Canada border identified

Indian nationals who died just steps away from the Canada-US border last week have been identified as a young family of four.

Jagdish Patel, 39, Vaishailben Patel, 37, and their children Vihangi, 11, and Dharkmik, 3, died from exposure due to the frigid cold in Manitoba, Canada.

Temperatures dropped to -35C (-31F) on the night the family attempted to cross into the US on foot.

Their identities were announced by the Canada's High Commission of India.

The four are believed to be connected to a group of seven other Indian nationals also found by border agents on the evening of 19 January. Steve Shand, a 47-year-old Florida resident, has been charged with human smuggling after authorities found him driving a 15-person van along the border, on the same night the Patels were found. Mr Shand had two Indian nationals as passengers his car, and cases of food and water in his boot.

The deaths of the Patel family has rocked the Indian community in Manitoba.

"There's a common sense of feeling guilty, like something has gone wrong," Ramandeep Grewal, president of the India Association of Manitoba, told the BBC.

Questions remain as to why the Patel family set out on foot in the dark, in Canada's punishing winter weather.

Mr Grewal said he heard rumours the family walked for 11 hours. "You don't expose yourself to that degree of cold for minutes, let alone hours," he said.

A special team led by a senior Indian consular officer was dispatched to Manitoba to assist Canadian authorities with the investigation. The Consulate General of India in Toronto has been in touch with relatives to provide support.

"This tragedy has brought into focus the need to ensure that migration and mobility are made safe and legal and that such tragedies do not occur," the High Commission of India said in Thursday's statement.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are due to make an announcement about the family at 1400 local time (1800 GMT) on Thursday.