Nearly three years after an Indian family of four froze to death in Canada two men are facing trial, accused of trying to help smuggle them across the border.

US-Canada Border: It was a backpack with child’s clothing and toys that first worried US Border Patrol agents.

That winter morning in January 2022, after a fierce blizzard, authorities had arrested a man driving a van near the US-Canada border, suspecting him of smuggling migrants.

Along with the driver, border guards picked up seven Indian nationals. One was carrying the backpack, but there were no children.

A family with two children had been with the other migrants as they made their way across the border at night, border agents were told, but they had become separated.

A search was launched and Canadian police found the bodies of Vaishaliben Patel, her husband Jagdish and their two young children, 11-year-old Vihangi and three-year-old Dharmik, in a Manitoba field just 12m (39ft) from the US border.

It is believed that the family – who had travelled on visitor visas from their home village in western India to Toronto, Canada – were trying to cross into the US when they were caught in the blinding blizzard with a bone-chilling cold that hovered below -35C (-31F).

Three people have died after a collision between a pleasure craft and a tugboat in Kasado Bay off Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan.

Coast guard officials say the captain of the tugboat reported the accident around 5:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Three of the four people aboard the pleasure boat were confirmed dead after they were found inside the craft or at sea.

The remaining person was rescued by the tugboat and is reported to have suffered a minor injury.

The pleasure boat was headed to a fishing area.

Coast guard officials are investigating details of the accident.