Blizzard conditions met migrants at Manitoba-Minnesota border crossing, trial hears – Winnipeg [Video]

Witnesses have testified about brutal cold along the border between Manitoba and Minnesota, where a family from India froze to death in early 2022 while trying to walk into the United States.

Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel are accused of being part of a ring that flew Indian nationals to Canada then had them walk across the border.

A meteorologist told the men’s trial in Fergus Falls, Minn., that there was blowing snow and wind chill values below -30 C on the day Shand was arrested in a van south of the border.

Hours later, the frozen bodies of a couple and their two children were found just metres north of the border, and authorities said they were part of a group of 11 that had been walking for hours on the open prairie.