Elphinstone Road stampede: Nepal family claims last body at KEM hospital

For the past 15 years, Tilakram Teli, 37, lived in Dadar and worked as a porter on the Virar-Churchgate route

After a two-night-long journey from Nepal to Mumbai, family members of Tilakram Teli , who died in the Elphinstone bridge stampede on September 29, reached KEM Hospital on Monday morning to claim his body.

The father (right) of Mayuresh Haldankar, one of the victims of last Friday’s Elphinstone Road stampede, participates in a candle light vigil at the station on Monday. (Pratik Chorge/HT photo)

His was the last of the 23 bodies to be claimed by the family members, said officials at the hospital’s mortuary.

For the past 15 years, Teli, 37, lived in Dadar and worked as a porter on the Virar-Churchgate route.

Elphinstone Road station was his regular stop, said a co-worker while waiting outside the hospital’s mortuary as Teli’s family completed formalities to claim his body. Last rites were performed on Teli at Bhoiwada crematorium on Monday evening.

A day earlier, Teli had spoken to his 35-year-old wife over the phone. “He told me that he had a lot of work, so we couldn’t talk much,” said Bindrawati.

She added that the family has been experiencing financial woes over the past few years. “I sometimes do farming to make some money. But we mainly survived on the money Teli earned in Mumbai.”

Teli had returned to the city from Nepal 20 days before the incident, said his sister-in-law. His children — two daughters and two sons — are all under the age of 10 and are in Nepal.

“They still don’t know about their father’s death,” Bindrawati said.

While many of the injured were discharged from the hospital on Monday, 19 are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Dr Harish Pathak, head of forensic medicine, KEM hospital, said the autopsy revealed that most victims died of traumatic asphyxia, a condition in which the body is deprived of oxygen because of the compression of the chest.