Canada rites for Gujarat family who died on US-Canada border

The bodies of four members of a family from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar who died of extreme cold near the Canada-US border will not be brought back to India, their relatives said on Friday.

The Canadian authorities, who suspect it to be a case of “human smuggling”, identified the deceased as Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishaliben, 37, daughter Vihangi, 11, and son Dharmik, 3.

“It is now confirmed that the family belonged to Dingucha village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar,” said additional director-general of police Anil Pratham.

According to the Canadian authorities, the Patel family arrived in Toronto on January 12 and made their way to Manitoba and then to Emerson around January 18, a day before they died.