Indian 'daredevil' couple plummet to their deaths at Yosemite overlook

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Meenakshi Moorth and Vishnu Vishwanath

DESPITE WARNING their Instagram followers about the inherent dangers of daredevil selfies, the Indian couple who had just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, apparently fell off the Yosemite cliff to their deaths.

Meenakshi Moorth, 30, and Vishnu Vishwanath, 29, plummeted to their deaths from Taft Point, a popular spot overlooking Yosemite Valley Oct. 25 while taking pictures of themselves.

Although the reason for their fall is yet to be determined, the couple was known to post daring cliffside pictures, both on their Instagram account and travel blog, Holidays and HappilyEverAfters.

In Instagram posts to their 12.9K followers, they had tragically written about the dangers of strong wind gusts at great heights, and their daring photos, or as they called it, "daredevilry" and "doitforthegram," on multiple occasions.

"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??? Is our life just worth one photo?" according to the post written on March 28, 2018.

On Instagram, where the software engineer couple had over 15,000 followers, Moorthy’s distinctive pink hair stood out against the scenic backdrops of the mountains and cliffs they climbed.

Meenakshi Moorth's pink hair stood out in the stunning vistas taken by the couple.
In this Instagram post on March 28 from the Grand Canyon, she issued a word of caution.

In a press release from the National Park Service, it was estimated that the couple fell approximately 800 feet.

Park rangers recovered their bodies last Thursday, using technical climbing, rappelling techniques and helicopter support from the California Highway Patrol to reach them.

"We still don't have any clear idea exactly what happened," Jamie Richards, a spokeswoman for Yosemite National Park, told The Mercury News, a Bay Area newspaper. "We are still trying to piece it together."

"There is a railing at the overlook, but there are plenty of places you can go near there without railings," she said. "Yosemite is an inherently wild place."

The two had recently moved to the Bay Area from New York City after Viswanath started a new job at Cisco Systems, based in Silicon Valley, according to an unidentified friend. They had studied computer science and engineering at the College of Engineering in Kerala’s Chengannur before coming to the US.

The travel-loving couple ran a blog where Meenakshi described herself as having an “insatiable wanderlust” and being “obsessed with all the beauty this planet beholds.” She also described herself as an “adrenaline junkie” who is not scared of “roller coasters and sky diving.

The couple was aware of the dangers of their risk-taking photos.

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