Khalsa had gone on a retreat with his wife.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: A yoga teacher from Leesburg, Virginia, Hari Simran Singh Khalsa, 25, who had gone missing in Mexico on Tuesday afternoon, after he went off on a hike in the Tepozteco Mountains, around Tepoztlan, was found dead today.
Khalsa, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, had gone there to attend a yoga retreat – the Sat Nam Fest Mexico – with his wife, Emily Smith. They lived in Leesburg and ran the Raj Yoga Center, in Sterling, Virginia, reported WTOP.
The last anyone heard from him was in the form of two text messages he sent to his wife on December 30. At 12:30 p.m., he sent a photo of himself on a mountain pointing down at the retreat site, and the message “Looking down on you!” About two hours later, he sent her another message, saying he had “accidentally summited another mountain” and would be later than predicted coming back. He added, “Save me some lunch if you can.”
A Mexican civil defense official, Carlos Mandujano, said today searchers have found the lifeless body of Singh, reported CBS. The rescue effort included dogs and helicopters too. The US Embassy had got involved in the search on Friday.
Manjujano, the civil defense coordinator for Morelos State says the body was found in one of the narrow gorges or ravines that crisscross the rugged mountains in the colonial town of Tepoztlan, reported the Associated Press.
The search for Khalsa began when he went missing Tuesday, and included 150 searchers, Mandujano said. He had left with only a T-shirt, shorts, a liter of water, a handful of trail mix and a knife. Temperatures in the area where Khalsa went missing can get below freezing this time of year, reported CBS.
Khalsa had sent another message on Tuesday, at 3:30 p.m., to a friend that said “I’ll get back to you on that. I’m on top of a really high mountain in Mexico and I’m not exactly sure how to get down : )”
Earlier, search parties were reported as saying that they’ve heard Khalsa’s cries for help. But because of the treacherous terrain, they were not been able to figure out where he is.