The body of a missing yoga teacher originally from Brooklyn has been found in Mexico after he was reported missing Dec. 30, authorities say.
A Mexican civil defense official said searchers found the body of 25-year-old Hari Simran Friday, four days after he went on a hike in the rugged Tepozteco Mountains in central Mexico, according to family members.
The civil defense coordinator for Morelos State says the body was found on Friday in one of the narrow gorges or ravines that crisscross the rugged mountains in the colonial town of Tepoztlan.
In a statement on a website set up wife Emily Smith during the search for Simran, the Simran family said: "It is with heavy hearts that we announce that Hari Simran has been found. He appears to have fallen while hiking and sustained a fatal injury to the head. We believe he passed instantly and did not suffer."
Simran, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, and his wife Emily Smith had been attending a four-day yoga retreat called "Sat Nam Fest" near Tepoztlan, about 30 miles south of Mexico City. The couple was living in Leesburg, Virginia but were planning to move back to Brooklyn at the end of the month.
A vigil was being planned in Virginia Friday night, and the family was making arrangements to fly Himran's body back to the states.
Smith said she heard from her husband at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, when he sent a picture of himself on a mountain top pointing to the site of the yoga retreat, with the message: "Looking down on you!''
She last heard from him about two hours after that, when he sent a text message.
"I accidentally summited another mountain,'' he wrote, Smith said. ``Looks like I'll be a little later coming back. Save me some lunch if you can.''
Local
Smith said her husband was an experienced hiker, and had only gone out with water, trail mix, a phone and a knife that day.
Simran's parents still live in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It's not clear when Simran moved out of the area.
