Brooklyn man missing in Mexico is found dead
Hari Simran Khalsa, 25, went missing Tuesday while hiking in the mountains outside Tepoztlan. His body was found Friday in a narrow ravine, officials said.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, January 2, 2015, 4:23 PM
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COURTESY OF AD PURKH KAUR/APHari Simran Khalsa went missing Tuesday. This is the last image of him alive, which he took and sent to his wife.
The body of a Brooklyn man who vanished during a mountain hike in Mexico was found Friday, officials said.
Hari Simran Khalsa, 25, went missing Tuesday afternoon outside Tepoztlan, about 50 miles south of Mexico City.
Khalsa was in Tepoztlan for the Sat Nam Fest, a yoga and music retreat his wife organizes. He decided to go on a hike about 11 a.m. Tuesday and never returned.
NANCY SIESELKhalsa was in Tepoztlan for the Sat Nam Fest, a yoga and music retreat his wife organizes. Pictured is a wedding photo of Khalsa and his wife.
Searchers found his body in a narrow ravine Friday, according to Carlos Mandujano, a Mexican civil defense official, the Associated Press reported.
The last text message he sent during the hike was to a childhood friend in New York.
“It said something like, ‘I’ll have to get back to you later because right now I’m on top of a mountain and I’m not sure how to get down,’” his mother, Gurusurya Khalsa, told the Daily News shortly before her son’s body was found.
“I can just imagine he was very happy on the mountain and didn’t mind finding himself lost and was very confident he could find his way back.”
Her son hiked Mt. Fiji with his father in 2011.
“He’s an avid hiker - he loves to explore mountainous terrains,” she said. “He’s hiked since he was young.”
On Thursday, his father, Sat Jagat Singh Khalsa, arrived in Mexico to help with the search, which included dogs and helicopters.
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Hari Simran Khalsa and his wife had been living in Virginia, where they launched a new yoga center, over the last couple years, his family said.
They were due to fly into New York Friday to visit his parents in Park Slope for the weekend, before returning to Virginia to pick up their belongings and return to Brooklyn for good.
“They were going to live on the top floor of our home,” his mother said.
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“We were surprised and delighted.”
His parents are directors of Kundalini Yoga in Park Slope.
Before he disappeared, Hari Simran Khalsa texted his wife a selfie in which he was smiling and pointing down from high on a mountain with the caption, “Looking down on you!”
FIND HARI SIMRAN VIA FACEBOOKRescuers searched for Khalsa for days in Mexico.
Simran last texted his wife at 2:20 p.m. local time Tuesday, writing, “I accidentally summited another mountain. Looks like I’ll be a little later coming back.”
He was dressed in just a T-shirt and tan shorts and carrying only a bottle of water, a handful of trail mix and a sharp knife, his family said.
