Mounties say autopsies have begun to identify family found dead near border

Mounties say autopsies have begun as they try to identify the four people who were found dead in a frigid Manitoba blizzard near the United States border.

The bodies, including those of a baby and a teenager, were located on Jan. 19 in the snow near Emerson, Man., just metres from the border.

American officials say they are believed to be a family that was separated from a larger group of Indian migrants trying to enter the U.S. from Canada.

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RCMP say identification is still pending.

A Florida man, Steve Shand, has been charged in the U.S. with human smuggling.

Police in Gujarat – the western Indian state where the family is
believed to be from – say they are investigating whether those who
died are a missing family from that region.