On January 12, Jagdish and Vaishaliben Patel flew with their children, 3-year-old Dharmik and 11-year-old Vihangi, from India to Toronto, Canada. The family then journeyed westward to Emerson, Manitoba, a small border town just north of Minnesota and North Dakota.
A blizzard separated the Patels from the rest of their group, which was comprised of other Indian nationals and the American man who was reportedly transporting them. Temperatures dipped as low as -22 degrees Fahrenheit. On January 19, one week after they arrived in Canada with the hopes of entering the United States, the Patels were found frozen and dead.
