Updated: Search On For Yoga Teacher Gone Missing From Retreat in Mexico

Hari Simran Singh Khalsa in his selfie from his hike in the mountains of Tepoztlan, Mexico.

There’s some terrible news out of the yoga festival files this week. A yoga teacher has gone missing from the four-day “Sat Nam Fest” yoga retreat he and his wife were on in Mexico. The last time he was heard from, Hari Simran was texting a selfie to his wife, Emily Smith, from the top of a mountain in Tepotzlan, Mexico, Tuesday, December 30. The couple had been at the yoga festival there, but Tuesday morning Singh decided to take a hike by himself and hasn’t been seen since.

“He says, ‘I’m way up high,’ and he’s pointing down at the retreat center where I am,” Smith said regarding the final text she received from her husband. The text was sent about 3 hours after he left on what was supposed to be a short hike.

Simran an experienced hiker, Smith says, but with only some trail mix and a liter of water, it’s clearly imperative that he be located as soon as humanly or technologically possible. The missing man’s location should be able to be pinpointed via his mobile phone, but T-Mobile and Mexico’s Telcel were slow to release the information due to privacy laws and now his GPS is shut off and his phone’s battery is likely dead. However, T-Mobile confirm they are currently working with the Mexican government and the FBI to help find Simran.

Search parties have been underway and a website with hashtag #FindHariSimran was created to aid in the search and raise funds so Smith and other searchers can hire helicopters with infrared equipment. Tepoztlan, where the yoga fest was being held, is about 30 miles south of Mexico City.

Update: A tragic end to the search. According to reports on Friday, the body of Hari Simran Singh Khalsa was found in a canyon.

[via NBC]