CORNWALL, Ontario – Akwesasne police are investigating a potential case of human smuggling that saw two men from India die while transiting the St. Lawrence River on what appears to have been an overloaded Seadoo.
On Wednesday the Seadoo capsized east of Cornwall Island, sending three passengers and the driver of the watercraft into the water. Two of the passengers drowned, while a third was pulled from the river by people standing on the shore.
Akwesasne police chief Jerry Swamp said officers are looking at a possible case of human smuggling.
“That’s what we’re investigating now,” he said. “We are working in conjunction with Canadian immigration, the U.S. attorney’s office and the RCMP.”
The names of the deceased have not yet been released pending notification of next of kin. Swamp did say the passengers were all male, in their early 20s and came from India but would not disclose a specific region of that country.
Swamp said police are working to determine why they were crossing the river on the Seadoo.
“Right now there’s no indication they were connected to anything,” he said. “But we will be doing a full background check on them.”
The driver of the Seadoo, Louis J. McDonald, 36, of Snye, Que. Has been charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death, one count of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and a single count of breaching probation.
The Canada Border Service Agency’s enforcement and intelligence branch has had a hand in the investigation.
