Indian village mourns family who froze to death at US-Canada border

An Indian village is mourning a family of four who froze to death while trying to enter the United States by foot from Canada. Streams of people have been visiting the family's home in Gujarat state since their bodies were identified by Canadian police.

On 12 January, Jagdish Patel, his wife Vaishali and their two children aged 11 and 3, reached Canada and then made their way to Emerson in Manitoba province.

The Patels, from Dingucha village, were found dead a week later as a winter storm raged with temperatures of minus 35 degrees Celsius.

Described by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “mind blowing”, the tragedy highlights the dire conditions in India, where 53 million jobless people are prepared to take dangerous risks.

The Patels were part of a larger group that got separated and perhaps even abandoned along the frigid border.

“They were left on their own in the fields,” said Ajay Bisaria, India's top diplomat in Ottawa, who offered to help investigate "these disturbing events”.

Outpouring of tributes

In Dingucha village, 26 kilometres from state capital Gandhinagar, shops were closed last weekend in remembrance of the family, while many people turned out for prayer vigils.

Locals say a number of Dingucha residents living abroad have funded the opening of a school, a healthcare clinic, a temple and a council centre for the village of 3,200 people.

“We lived in fear for four to five days with no official word on this tragedy, said Jayesh Chaudhari, a village council official. "But now we know.”

Amritbhai Patel, a relative, recalled the final days of the doomed family.

“Jagdish packed all the winter clothes, toys for the children and left his motorcycle for his father to use. We are absolutely devastated,” he said.

In Winnipeg, the Gujarati community organised an online prayer meet while the GoFundMe sought donations for the bereaved family.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jai Shankar tweeted his shock, adding he had asked Indian envoys in Canada and the US to “urgently respond to the situation”.

Ominous reality

But the response of Jagdish Patel's mother Madhuben Patel, was macabre.

“This half-man could not take the weather of Canada,” she told the vibesofindia.com online publication, speaking in the Gujarati language.

“You think Dingucha has any future now? For the next few seasons, we will rot in poverty and then let's see who has the guts to become a hero as another illegal immigrant.”

Dingucha's situation reflects an ominous truth. Billboards offer dodgy information about migrating to the West, and some brag of ways to help unqualified locals enrol in British and Canadian universities.

“We are smarter than you think. Many from here are living in the UK or Canada without even a visa,” boasted a rickshaw driver.

Human smuggling

Reports from the US and Canada said several others, including seven undocumented Indians who trekked 11 kilometres across the border, had been intercepted.

All of them were part of a single group, but the doomed family got separated before crossing over to the US where Gujaratis are a close-knit community.

The Times of India daily said the Patels had paid 87,000 euros to reach the US, which is home to an estimated 150,000 people of the same name.

Locals told reporters in Dingucha that people smugglers had sent 10 local families to Canada over the past few years and that three of those families remained missing.