BY Yam Kharel, Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 1: The funeral for late Tikaram Koirala is scheduled for January 2, Saturday at Marshall Donnelly Comp Funeral Home.
Catholic Charities, the resettlement agency helping with the funeral arrangements is further helping to smoothen the upcoming situation of the bereaved family.
The funeral home decided to consider the case as exceptional for this refugee family which helped ease the funeral processing. Gaylord Opryland, Tika’s employer has offered a job to Tika’s wife promising further help.
Many individual volunteers are working hard to help the family after the tragic incidence in Koirala family. Meanwhile, the Bhutanese Community of Tennessee has expressed its gratitude to all those support agencies and individuals.
Tika Koirala,46, a former Bhutanese refugee resettled in last June in Nashville, Tennessee ,was pronounced dead fifteen minutes after the family gave the consent to remove his life support at Vanderbilt Medical Center on December 29, 2009. Koirala was admitted to Trauma unit following the fatal car crash the same day.
A Toyota Camry driven by Moni Rai that carried three passengers including Koirala was hit by another car speeding from the opposite direction, heading towards I-24 at Haywood Lane.
The other car was driven by an unidentified drunk illegal immigrant, according to the investigating police officer, Herald Burke. The officer further said that the driver is either at the hospital or in jail, watched by another police officer.
Three Bhutanese and an Iranian were returning home after their night shift work at Gaylord Opryland hotel who letter met with the fetal accident. The other three, who sustained minor injuries were discharged the same day from Southern Hills Medical Center after necessary treatment.
