Canadian authorities intercepted four men after illegally crossing the border coming from the United States during a snowstorm, and one of them was taken to the hospital due to injuries caused by severe cold.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (GRC / RCMP), the federal police, said they received a report that four men crossed the border near the town of Emerson in southern Manitoba province in west-central Canada on Saturday around 7:15 a.m.

The police found the four men in two different buildings in Emerson, located on the border with the U.S. state of Minnesota about 110 kilometers by car south of Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. The four are from Chad in central Africa.

One of the men was also taken to the hospital due to a serious cold-related injury. The actual temperature in that area at the time was 5 degrees Celsius below zero, which is not extremely cold, but the wind chill reached 16 degrees Celsius below zero due to winds blowing at 56 kilometers per hour, according to Environment Canada.

The police patrolled the area but did not find any other people who had crossed the border illegally.

The RCMP also reminded in a press statement of the dangers of entering Canada through illegal crossings during bad weather conditions.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police continue to remind everyone that winter weather can become deadly and quickly. According to an excerpt from an RCMP statement.

It is also noted that the RCMP found the bodies of four people, including an infant, in January 2022 in a field about 10 kilometers east of Emerson and about 10 meters from the U.S. border. The four came from the United States during a snowstorm with a wind chill of about 35 degrees Celsius below zero.

In May 2023, the body of a decomposed man was found in a field in southern Manitoba just a few meters from the U.S. border. It was unclear whether the man was coming from the United States or going there.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there was a significant increase in illegal crossings between Manitoba and the United States between 2022 and 2023.