Elphinstone Road Station stampede: Ghatkopar man succumbs to injuries, death toll rises to 23

“We have been here since yesterday. We went to see him but he remained unconscious. He never spoke after the accident. The doctors explained that he had sustained serious injuries,” said cousin Parasnath Konajia.

Kanojia’s wife Sitara visited him on Friday and tried to talk to him. He being on intensive care support, she could not stay with him longer and the family waited in the hospital corridor all day for news of his recovery.

Kanojia had sustained a head injury, and injuries on legs and chest and was put on ventilator support since Friday. On Saturday morning, he succumbed to axonal injury, an injury to the brain.

“The post mortem was done after panchnama on Saturday,” said dean Dr Avinash Supe.

Sitara is a housewife. “We informed her hours later on Saturday after he passed away. She will come to the mortuary in some time. His children are all so young. How will the family manage,” Parasnath said.

Until Saturday, the final rites on the bodies of 18 of the 23 killed in the stampede had been carried out. Senior police inspector Dattatray Patil, Bhoiwada police station, said that speedy panchnama and quick identification helped several post-mortems to be carried out on Friday itself. “Families of 18 deceased were able to take the bodies between yesterday and today,” he said.

At the KEM morgue, five bodies remain to be handed over to the respective families.

The last body to be identified was that of Tukaram Telli, a Nepalese migrant, who worked as a labourer in Mumbai. His relative identified his body late on Friday night.

“His body will be handed over on Sunday. The relatives have to make arrangements to take him to his native place,” said forensic department head Dr Harish Pathak.

Meanwhile, of the 39 injured, four patients were discharged on Saturday. Dean Supe said that two were discharged after proper treatment and two others took discharge against medical advice to seek private treatment.