'Too early to speculate' on Malayali couple's death, say US officials

'Too early to speculate' on Malayali couple's death, say US officials
Vishnu and Meenakshi died after falling from a cliff while attempting a joint selfie last week.

New York: An investigation into the deaths of a young Malayali techie couple, who fell off a cliff in California's Yosemite National Park, may take several weeks and it was 'too early to speculate,' a park official has said.

Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and his wife, Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, died last week after falling from Taft Point, a scenic overlook located 3,500 feet above the Yosemite Valley.

Some US media reports said the couple, both IT professionals who regularly shared their travel adventures with thousands of social media followers, might have fallen while taking selfies at the dangerous spot.

But Jamie Richards, a spokeswoman for Yosemite National Park, said investigators still do not know how they fell from the iconic overlook high above Yosemite Valley.

She said the investigation is expected to take several weeks, The Mercury News reported.

"We still don't have any clear idea exactly what happened," Richards said. "We are still trying to piece it together."

Two people who knew the couple, however, believe they may have been trying to take a photo, The Washington Post reported.

"It's clearly a very tragic circumstance and as the investigation progresses we will have a better idea of possibly what happened," Richards told KFSN television station, noting that it is too early to speculate.

"We do not know any of the circumstances of what may have happened up there."

Iconic tourist spot

Taft Point has been one of Yosemite's iconic tourist spots for more than 100 years. Named for former US President William Howard Taft, who visited it in 1909, the point has been a site of countless photos over the decades, proposals and even some weddings.

The bodies of the couple, who had been married for four years, were found about 800 feet down the side of a steep cliff from Taft Point, which is located near the end of Glacier Point Road and has sweeping views of Yosemite Valley, El Capitan and Yosemite Falls.

Authorities said that park visitors first spotted the couple late Wednesday. On Thursday, rangers hiked and rappelled down the cliff to recover their bodies, with the help of a helicopter from the California Highway Patrol.

Richards said that investigators notified the victims' families, who live in Kerala, over the weekend.

The metal railing at Taft Point was undamaged, and Richards said that park officials do not plan to install any additional railings along the high cliffs overlooking Yosemite Valley.

Viswanath had been a software engineer at Cisco since July.

Ten people have died in the Yosmite Park this year, and six of those park visitors fell to their deaths. In May, Asish Penugonda, a 29-year-old Indian national, fell to his death while ascending the park's famous Half Dome trail.

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