Newlyweds in Viral Yosemite Cliff Photo Died By Selfie

What better way to celebrate your marriage than a visit to the enchantingly beautiful Yosemite National Park. A rather "travel-obsessed" Indian couple felt the same way and decided to take a selfie at the edge of a cliff known as Taft Point, a popular attraction for tourists.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A male and female visitor died in an apparent fall from Taft Point in Yosemite National Park. Park rangers are recovering the bodies this morning. This incident is under investigation and no further details are available. <a href="https://t.co/wTm1IadB79">https://t.co/wTm1IadB79</a></p>&mdash; Yosemite National Park (@YosemiteNPS) <a href="https://twitter.com/YosemiteNPS/status/1055514201853063168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Sadly, the couple decided to take a daring selfie on the cliff's edge that would be their last. 29-year-old Vishnu Viswanath and 30-year-old Meenakshi Moorthy fell while trying to take that fateful selfie. Fears that the couple had fallen while taking a selfie were confirmed Tuesday by family members.

Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/38661-Quest-For-Perfect-Selfies-Has-Killed-260-Globally#38665">Quest For ‘Perfect Selfies’ Has Killed 260 Globally</a>

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/7924669abc5e6b402cdb3d4853623087bcda29f29d53accf9eed3ebaa35779ef.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">Viswanath | Facebook</span>

There is no railing at the popular viewing spot at Taft Point, and it seems the couple slipped and fell while trying to take a photo. Emergency responders retrieved the remains of the couple Thursday at the bottom of the 800-foot drop. It wasn't confirmed that they had died while taking a selfie until family members confirmed the theory Tuesday.

A study published by the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care journal revealed that social media obsessed people are dying for the ultimate selfie, literally. The study found that between 2011 and 2017, there have been 259 deaths as a result of selfies. The bizarre deaths have become known as "selficides". Images such as this one demonstrate how far some people are willing to go to get attention.

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/96331d9b978ac8376ba4977d04660fed6908e2c01e6178f03b1622bb493737a0.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">@Ebony/Vice</span>

Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/2025-Cheerleader-s-Death-By-Selfie">Cheerleader's Death By Selfie</a>

No one was with the couple when they took the fateful selfie so their disappearance was a mystery until visitors reported seeing an unattended camera on a Tripod, according to Viswanath's brother, Jishnu Viswanath. The couple set up the tripod by the ledge last Tuesday hoping to take the ultimate selfie.

After reports came in Thursday that an unattended camera was sitting at Taft Point, Rangers "used high-powered binoculars to find them and used helicopters to airlift the bodies." The incident is under investigation the National Park Service. Dr. Nisha Kuruvilla, a professor who knew the couple said that Viswanath and Moorthy were married years ago in southern India.

Viswanath worked as a software engineer at Cisco India's San Jose, California headquarters but he and his wife kept their travel blog updated when he wasn't working. They ran a blog that detailed their travels called "Holidays and HappilyEverAfters" where they shared their escapades and images from the locations they visited such as the Eiffel tower.

Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/28180-India-Peacock-Dies-for-Sake-of-Selfies">India – Peacock Dies for Sake of Selfies</a>

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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div></a> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg31bD2hgDq/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading&amp;utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_camera" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">CHASING SUNSETS or CHASING LIKES ??? 😛 … Sooo today on #socialmediabadasstribe we are talking about limits of #doitforthegram.😶Yeah sure it can be limitless but guys, we reaaaallly need to have boundaries(this is handy as life lessons too but we will revisit that later😉) 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? … When we squirm at another selfie attempt gone south 😱 from a skyscraper, let’s remember to save that in our core memory 🧠 and not the memory dump 🛢(I am still on the Inside Out 🎬 train y&#39;all 😬) Same applies when we get our knickers in a twist and hog a spot till we get the perfect shot🙄 I know I know, I am guilty as charged for all of this 🤦‍♀️ and if I didn’t have Mr. Two Goody Shoes, Vishnu 🤭 with me, I am not even sure if I would have written this post. … Let us all try to be responsible digital citizens and use our “numbers” to be transparent and honest, shall we?🤗 None of us is perfect and the more we accept it and share our flaws as much as our wins, we are one step closer to creating a sane social media without the scary brouhahas.💕✨ … Still there?👀 Woohoo, a backflip is in order, or wait maybe a pizza? 🍕 What about a unicorn ice-cream 🦄 🍦 with some Disney-approved cotton candy 🍭🍬 and pixie dust infused sprinkles 🧚‍♀️ if…..IF you could tell me the one time you were effin’ proud of being candid and real AF in social media? 😎 … PS - Not sponsored but sweatshirt is from @radearthsupply • • • #grandcanyonnps #northrim #instagramaz #visitarizona #travelarizona #shotzdelight #discovertheroad #usaroadtrip #visittheusa #outdoorsusa #exploretheusa #womenwhoexplore #iamtb #radparks #thediscoverer #gtgi #sheisnotlost #wearetravelgirls #hikemore #radgirlslife #travelreality #dreamscape @womenwhoexplore @visit_arizona @visittheusa @shotzdelight</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/holidaysandhappilyeverafters/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading&amp;utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_camera" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> TravelCreatives❤️Minaxi+Vishnu</a> (@holidaysandhappilyeverafters) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2018-03-28T15:45:54+00:00">Mar 28, 2018 at 8:45am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

The couple's blog has since been deactivated but the couple described themselves on it as people "diagnosed with the 'curious case of interminable travel bug' and a huge believer of 'happily-ever-afters'." One image from Moorthy's Instagram showed her sitting on the edge of a cliff at sunset.

Moorthy wrote in the caption, "Is our life just worth one photo? Yeah sure it can be limitless but guys, we reaaaallly need to have boundaries(this is handy as life lessons too but we will revisit that later)," Moorthy wrote in the caption of a photo of herself at the Grand Canyon. "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???"

She added, "When we squirm at another selfie attempt gone south from a skyscraper, let’s remember to save that in our core memory and not the memory dump." Moorthy goes on to say that she was "guilty as charged" for risking her life to take the photo but was adamant that her husband keeps her from going too far.

<i>On Twitter:</i>

<a href="https://twitter.com/MAGASyndicate">@MAGASyndicate</a>

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Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/couple-who-plunged-to-their-deaths-at-yosemite-national-park-was-taking-selfie-relative-says

[tw_tags] #Selfie #Death #Yosemite #India #Moorthy #Viswanath #Selficide #MAGA #JobsNotMobs[/tw_tags]