A family with two young children who collapsed with hypothermia was rescued in the forest Thursday at night after trying to cross the border in Quebec between the United States and Canada.
The police mounted on the Canadian Royal (RCMP) said they had received a call at 3:15 a.m. from the Quebec provincial police alerting to them that two adults and one one and two years old around Havelock, Quebec, needed an urgent rescue of wood after walking for hours and getting lost.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) had received a call at 911 shortly before the mother.
RCMP spokesperson Martina Pillarova told Global News that the emergency services had been able to locate the family by keeping them on the call of 911 and following their contact details via GPS.
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“They stayed on the line while we followed them. They were in an area with a lot of trees, so no vehicle or skidoo could pass. The police arrived at 4:15 am on foot following their traces in the snow, “said Pillarova.
The authorities say that the family was found under a tree. The parents had lost their shoes in a river, and the infant and the toddler were not properly dressed for a cold and hard Canadian winter time.
The two adults, whose RCMS could not confirm the ages, had collapsed and held the two children. They could not move and had hypothermia, said the RCMP.
The mother was transported out of the woods by the sled, the two children were transported by officers and the father managed to access a side by side by side which was able to get there.
The emergency services of neighboring cities Hemmingford, Quebec, and the Mooers in New York state awaited them one kilometer.
They were transported to the hospital in Châteauguay, Quebec, to be treated for hypothermia and should recover.
Pillarova said that the family would likely ask for refugee status and that their case will be transferred to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). She could not provide additional details on their origins.