A family of four, including two children of one and two years, was rescued by the RCMP during the night after crossing the US border towards Canada and getting lost in the forest in Havelock, which.
RCMP CPL. Martina Pillarova said that the four suffered from severe hypothermia when they were found.
“They were in a very bad state,” he said. “They couldn’t move anymore. They were frozen.”
Pillarova said the family possibly lost in the forest after crossing the border and had been walking for hours before the mother called 911.
“It was the [Sûreté du Québec] who received a call and called us to receive help around 3:15 in the morning, “said Pillarova.
That call, he explained, allowed the police to obtain GPS coordinates from their approximate location and reduce the search area.
They were located within an hour in the forest, sitting curled up under a tree and unable to move.
The parents were found barefoot, having lost their boots in some type of body of water, according to Pillarova, and the children were not dressed for the winter climate.
“The children were dressed only with shoes and sneakers, without hats, without gloves. So they were in poor condition,” he said.
The family members were transported outside the forest to an ambulance he expects, with the mother taken to a sled, the two young children in the arms of the officers and the father was rescued shortly after.
Pillarova said the ambulance was waiting approximately one kilometer from the rescue site, at Covey Hill Road in Havelock.
Sûreté du Québec and local firefighters helped in the rescue operation.
Until Friday afternoon, Pillarova informed that the four family members remained in the hospital and were in stable condition.
The RCMP confirmed that the family requested refugee status and the Canadian border services agency is now in charge of the file.
After announcing a $ 1.3B plan to increase security on the American border, Canadian officials offered an idea of how that money could be spent.
