A couple died in Yosemite while he was taking a selfie, says the brother of the man

October 30, 2018 / 16:09 GMT

By Janelle Griffith

An Indian couple who died after a death at Yosemite National Park in California apparently took a selfie, the man's brother said Tuesday.

Park guards found the bodies of 29-year-old Vishnu Viswanath and 30-year-old Meenakshi Moorthy on Thursday, about 800 feet from the popular Taft Point prospect, officials said.

The park said the two were citizens of India who lived in the United States.

The tip of Taft, where visitors can stroll up to the edge of a vertiginous granite cornice devoid of balustrade, lies 3,500 feet above the Yosemite Valley.

Viswanath's brother, Jishnu Viswanath, said the couple had their tripod installed near the ledge on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, park visitors saw the camera and alerted the rangers, he said.

A helicopter from the California Highway Patrol helped the rangers remove the bodies Thursday afternoon, a spokeswoman for Yosemite said.

Both victims were about 300 meters from the steep cliff at Taft Point, near the end of Glacier Point Road.

The park said Tuesday that he could not confirm the account of Jishnu Viswanath.

"This fatality case is still under investigation," said a park spokeswoman. "No decision has yet been made on what caused the death of this couple."

Moorthy wrote on a blog titled "Holidays and HappilyEverAfters" and documented the pair's trips to an Instagram account of the same name. She wanted to work full time as a tourism blogger, said Jishnu Viswanath.

"Many of us, including yours, are really fond of the rash attempts to stand on the edge of cliffs and skyscrapers, but did you know that gusts of wind can be FATALES ???" Moorthy wrote on an Instagram post in March with a photo of her sitting at the edge of the Grand Canyon. "Is our life worth a photo?"

The funeral will be held in the United States because the bodies were not in a condition to be repatriated by air, said Jishnu Viswanath.