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The families of Bailey Sage Meola and Sydney Jo Schumacher,
both 19, posted a message on social media on Thursday announcing
that they believe the girls died while hiking in Nepal's
Langtang Valley when a 7.8 magnitude quake struck on April 25.
"There are no words to describe the depths of our sorrow and
loss," the families said.
The quake, which toppled homes and buildings and unleashed
landslides, killed at least 8,000 people and left thousands
homeless. Another quake, of 7.3 magnitude, rocked Nepal on
Tuesday.
In the days after the first earthquake, friends and family of
Meola and Schumacher set up a crowdfunding campaign on
Indiegogo.com seeking money to help pay for a search-and-rescue
mission to try to find the girls in the high-altitude, remote
area of the Himalayas where they were hiking.
After holding out hope the teens were alive, the families said
on Thursday "it was clear that there was no chance our girls had
survived."
The more than $51,000 that poured in from around the world to
assist recovery efforts would now be funneled back to Nepal,
they said.
"In due time we will announce our direction with donations made
to our IndieGoGo, to aid the people & economy of the Langtang
Valley region in the names of our beautiful daughters," it said.
Meola and Schumacher were 2014 graduates of Seattle's Garfield
High School. They were spending several months traveling the
world, their families said.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Cynthia Johnston
and Eric Beech)
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