Jignesh Patel and his wife Jagruti were teachers who conducted tuition classes in Kadod, a village in Bardoli taluka of Surat in Gujarat. Their only child, 17-year-old Priyadarshini, was a Class 11 student. But what made this family special in the village was something else.

In 2018, Jignesh and Priyadarshini started trekking, a hobby that soon became a passion — so much so that both father and daughter soon started challenging the heights of the Himalayas in Nepal. And the village looked on with pride.

Until that phone call on Sunday afternoon.

“It was a hotel receptionist from Manang (in Nepal) who informed us about the discovery of the bodies of a man and a girl by search teams. Then, we saw the photos and belongings they had left behind and confirmed to the Indian Embassy in Kat

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