Mumbai / Mangalore: Family Claims Body of Philip Tauro
Dubai, Feb 13: As reported on daijiworld Thursday, February 8, Rony D`Cunha, an avid daijiworld reader, supported by efforts from Jeffrey Castelino of Udyavar, who happened to be a former colleague of Philip Tauro, put in tremendous endeavour to find the whereabouts of the family of Philip tauro who had died in an accident in Dubai on November 11, 2006.
The body was unclaimed for three months. Emirates Evening Post's reporter Sindhu broke the news and took enormous initiative to find the family of Philip. She even contacted daijiworld after reading the initial breakthrough on the site on Thursday. It is also learnt that she has contacted several contacts in Mangalore and Mumbai to find out the details. It is also heartening to see a journalist working beyond the scope
On Tuesday, February 13 morning, Jeffrey Castelino briefed daijilworld about the mission carried out by Rony D`Cunha, Lawrence Castelino and himself.
Reading the report on daijiworld (initially published by Emirates Post, which was reproduced by daijiworld), Jeffrey learnt that Philip was his colleague at the Gulf Inn hotel, Dubai for 4 years. Surprised by the report that no family clue was available on Philip Tauro, Jeffrey has contacted three hotels in Dubai where Philip was working. He managed to get only his CV's from files.
Jeffrey says, "Philip was working in Al Buraimi Hotel Oman from 1995 -97, later at Mayfair hotel from 1997 -99, Dubai Inter City hotel from 1999-2000 and thereafter in Gulf Inn. But not much was known about his family. We all knew that he was a family man but never discussed much about family matters."
It was on Thursday morning that Rony D`Cunha read on Daijiworld the report about the unclaimed body and took the initiative to find his address. With the help of the Indian Consulate, Rony successfully tracked down the passport address in Jogeshwari Mumbai.
The telephone number of Rony D`Cunha published on daijiworld on the same day has helped Jeffrey to contact D`Cunha and to carry out the mission jointly further towards the goal.
"We found a helpful person, Felix Britto, at Jogeshwari, and requested him to contact the parish priest and find out if this person is the member of that church. Fr Richard Crasto, an extremely helpful priest, took the initiative and announced during Monday morning church service about the story of Philip Tauro"
"Immediately after Mass, a lady claimed to be the neighbor of Philip Tauro and informed the priest that she had seen him in Jogeshwari a few years back."
"Fr Crasto along with Felix Britto made further enquiries and was successful in reacing the wife of Philip Tauro who is residing in Bhayandar with her 20-year-old daughter Jennifer."
Daijiworld learnt that Philip separated from his wife Philomena 13 years ago and they had never been in touch after that.
"He is my father, I am saddened to hear of his death. What a day it is, I got my first job and Monday was my first day in office. What a day to receive the sad news of death of my father," said Jennifer, breaking down while speaking to daijiworld in Mumbai.
Tauro family now wants the body of Philip Tauro to be buried in India. Funeral arrangements will be made at Gantalkatta parish in Mangalore diocese where Philip Tauro was born. Philip's brother residing in Mangalore is taking the matter further
Rony and Jeffrey also found that there is a relative of Philip residing in Dubai, who too was unaware of the death of Philip.
"We are making every efforts to fly the mortal remains to India. There are several procedures to be complied with. A social service group called "Valley of Love' under the leadership of Mathew is taking dedicated efforts to help the people who are in need. Indiscriminate of caste and creed, they help the people. Valley of Love group has assured that they will fully support to have the body released and send it to India," says Rony D`Cunha, who himself has spent sizeable resources to find out the family details.
At the end a successful mission, it has been established once again that the media has played a key role in tracing the routes from a country beyond the seas. The awareness created by Sindhu through Emirates Evening Post newspaper was the vital lead and base for this case, At the same time, it is also true that the enormous reach of daijiworld.com among the Konkan coastal community members worldwide has helped in reaching successfully finding the right destination at the end.
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