A 78-year-old woman from Salboni in West Midnapore, who had gone to take a holy dip at the Sangam riverfront during the Mahakumbh in Allahabad, died in the stampede early on Wednesday.

Urmila Bhuniya was one of the two elderly women from Bengal who were killed in the stampede. The other one was from Calcutta’s Golf Green.

Family members of at least six pilgrims from different districts, who visited the mega event in Allahabad, claimed that their kin remained untraceable till Thursday evening.

Bhuniya, a homemaker from Midnapore’s Salboni block, visited the Mahakumbh this year with six family members, including two daughters and her son-in-law.

Bhuniya’s son Dulal, a contractual worker under WBSEDCL, claimed that his mother and five other family members boarded a train at Kharagpur railway station and reached Allahabad on Tuesday to attend the Mahakumbh.

“My mother and other family members went to take the holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya at the Sangam riverfront. However, before they could take the dip, my elderly mother fell to the ground in the stampede,” Dulal said. “We will know the details once the body reaches our home on Thursday night.”

An official said the body was likely to reach Bhuniya’s Salboni home late on Thursday night.

Three other family members of Dulal received minor injuries during the stampede.

The family said Bhuniya’s body was handed over to them without a mandatory autopsy and they were worried about whether her death would be registered for the ₹25 lakh compensation that the Yogi government had announced for those killed in the calamity.

“No autopsy was conducted on my mother after her tragic death. The Uttar Pradesh government arranged an ambulance to send her body back home. It is very unfortunate for us that my mother lost her life while visiting this auspicious pilgrimage,” Dulal added.

The Trinamool Congress did not take time to criticise the Yogi Adityanath government for its allegedly inhuman policies, leaving families with bodies without conducting necessary formalities.

“It is unfortunate that the Yogi government did not conduct an autopsy on the body of the woman who died in the stampede. This suggests they want to suppress the number of deaths,” said Sujoy Hazra, Trinamool Congress MLA from Medinpur, who visited Bhuniya’s house on Thursday morning.

“We don’t know whether the family has received the proper documents, like a death certificate,” he added.

Hazra said the Bengal government would conduct the required post-mortem once the body reached the district and they would stand by the family.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday compared the state government-organised Gangasagar Mela to the Mahakumbh while condemning the deaths of dozens of people in the stampede.

At least six persons from districts like Birbhum, East Burdwan, Malda, Nadia and East Midnapore went missing while taking their holy dip at the Mahakumbh.

Most of the family members are trying to locate their missing relatives through various helpline numbers and several have visited local police stations.

The entire Trinamool Congress dispensation has been asked to meet the families of those who went missing and to challenge the BJP over the much-hyped preparedness of the Mahakumbh.

“The Mahakumbh Mela is organised with the financial help of the central government, which provides thousands of crores of rupees, while Bengal organises the Gangasagar Mela on an island, from its exchequer. This tragic incident proves the lack of preparedness by the Uttar Pradesh government” said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.

BJP leaders noted stampedes had taken place in different parts of Bengal also.

“It is very painful for us as people lost their lives. The central and Uttar Pradesh governments are with the bereaved families. But Mamata Banerjee has no right to criticise the arrangements, as five people were killed in a stampede at Gangasagar five years ago. There have been many other incidents of stampedes, such as one at Panihati in North 24-Parganas in recent memory,” the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said.

In 2017, five people were killed at Kachuberia Jetty when there was a rush by pilgrims to board a vessel to reach Calcutta from the island. In 2022, three people were killed in a stampede at a religious fair in Panihati, North 24-Parganas.