The couple who plunged to their deaths in Yosemite National Park last week were adventurous travel bloggers who died while attempting a selfie at Taft Point, according to a family member.
Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, died in a fall from the popular overlook that stands about 900 metres above Yosemite Valley floor.
Viswanath’s brother told NBC News the couple had set up a tripod near the ledge of Taft Point, where there are no railings or fencing, on Tuesday evening. By Wednesday morning, a tourist spotted the camera and tripod and alerted park officials.
However, park authorities have yet to determine what caused the pair to slip from the overlook.
“Yosemite National Park continues to investigate this case, which will take several weeks,” the park said in a statement.
READ MORE: Teen plummets to his death after trying to take selfie in Yosemite National Park
According to Fresno Bee, Viswanath and Moorthy were an Indian couple living in the U.S. The pair often blogged about their worldly travels and had a popular Instagram account.
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In March, the couple were at the Grand Canyon where they posted an image of Moorthy sitting on the edge of a cliff.
“A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs and skyscrapers,” they wrote in an Instagram post in March from the rim of the Grand Canyon, “but did you know that wind gusts can be FATAL??? Is our life just worth one photo?” reads the post.
So far in 2018, there have been several deaths reported at the hands of selfie-seeking adventures.
Last month, a woman on a solo hiking trip plunged to her death after attempting to take a selfie at Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, slipping from the cliff’s edge. The 32-year-old California woman died when she fell about 60 metres from the cliff and into Lake Superior.
READ MORE: Experts want ‘no-selfie zones’ at tourist hot spots to prevent deaths
The incident at Pictured Rocks comes the same month another tourist died while attempting to take a selfie atop a waterfall in California’s Yosemite National Park. The young hiker was visiting from Jerusalem on a two-month trip to the U.S. when he plunged off the park’s popular Nevada Fall.
The hiker slipped while attempting to take a selfie and fell some 250 metres to his death.
In B.C., three popular Instagrammers and vloggers died in July after plummeting from Shannon Falls, a popular tourist destination south of Squamish. Ryker Gamble, Alexey Lyakh and Megan Scraper fell some 30 metres into a pool, about halfway down the 335-metre falls.
Experts have called for the implementation of “no-selfie zones” at popular tourist destinations with the hope of curbing fatal accidents. Over 260 people have been killed since 2011 attempting self-portraits.
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