Officials at Yosemite National Park have released the names of the couple who perished at Taft Point—a famous viewpoint in California’s Yosemite National Park—last week. The man and woman were identified as Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, according to the Fresno Bee. Both were citizens of India living in the United States.
Yosemite officials noted that an investigation is underway and will take several weeks to complete, per the National Park Service’s press release. Viswanath and Moorthy “fell approximately 800 feet below Taft Point in an area with very steep terrain.”
Park rangers, working with helicopter assistance from the California Highway Patrol, recovered the bodies last Thursday.
A spokesperson for Yosemite, Jaime Richards, told the Los Angeles Times that about 10 people have died in the park so far this year. Approximately 10-20 people die in a given year in Yosemite, she added. Falls are one of the major causes of death, and Taft Point, which rises to a peak of 7,000 feet, is a popular destination for hikers.
Viswanath and Moorthy ran a travel blog called Holidays and HappilyEverAfters where they documented their travels around the world, The Bee reports. They also posted photos of their trips on Instagram. Well-wishers have begun to share condolences in comments on the couple’s last photo, a shot of fall foliage in Vermont dated October 17.
In another recent post, taken at the Grand Canyon, the couple posted an ominous warning about the dangers of “daredevilry” and risk-taking in the hunt for a good shot for Instagram.
“A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs and skyscrapers, but did you know that wind gusts can be FATAL???,” the post reads. “Is our life just worth one photo? When we squirm at another selfie attempt gone south from a skyscraper, let’s remember to save that in our core memory and not the memory dump…”
Both Viswanath and Moorthy graduated from the College of Engineering, Chengannur, in India in 2010, and the college posted on Facebook in remembrance of the couple.
“Our hearts go out to the friends and family members of this lovely couple,” the college wrote. “May their souls rest in peace.”
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