Kochi, October 31: A family member of the Indian couple, who fell off a cliff at California’s Yosemite National Park, said they were clicking a selfie when the tragedy took place. Vishnu Viswanath and his wife Meenakshi Moorthy died last week after falling from Taft Point in the park. They hailed from Kerala, and were living in the United States.

Viswanath’s brother Jishnu Viswanath told Fox News that the couple was apparently snapping a selfie when they fell to death. Rangers in Yosemite National Park were alerted after some people found an unattended camera on a tripod near the popular viewpoint, Jishnu said. He added that guards had used high-powered binoculars to locate their bodies. Vacation Turns into a Tragic Accident! Woman Slips to Death at Nandi Hills, Husband Makes a Narrow Escape. 

Ironically, the couple, who ran the travel blog ‘Holidays and Happily Ever Afters’, had in March warned people of the dangers of taking selfies from on the edge of cliffs and atop skyscrapers. Moorthy had posted a picture of herself at the Grand Canyon, saying in the caption that “A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs. But did you know that wind gusts can be fatal? Is our life worth one photo?”

“We still do not know what caused them to fall. We’re trying to understand what happened. We may never know, (but) from everything we see; this was a tragic fall," Yosemite National Park spokesman Jamie Richards was quoted as saying. In May, Asish Penugonda, a 29-year-old Indian national, fell to his death while ascending the park’s famous Half Dome trail.

Earlier, the National Park Service had said in a statement that the recovery operation for a male and female visitor who had died in the fall from Taft Point was completed on the afternoon of October 25. The department said the two people fell approximately 800 feet below Taft Point in an area with very steep terrain.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 31, 2018 09:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).