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A trip to Guatemala for a yoga retreat became a nightmare in Oct. 2023 when 29-year-old Southern California woman Nancy Ng seemingly vanished. Ng was last seen kayaking with a tourist group, according to local police and international authorities who are investigating her disappearance.
According to CBS News, Ng was officially reported missing on Oct. 19, 2023, about five days after she left home for Guatemala. She was last seen kayaking with a group of tourists on Lake Atitlán when she broke away from the group with another unnamed individual. The young teacher who works with special-needs students in the Los Angeles area reportedly jumped into the lake to swim and never resurfaced.
The person she was with then told the larger tourist group what had happened, who then informed hotel staff Ng was nowhere to be found. Before informing the authorities, employees searched for Ng on their own but turned up nothing. Since then, the U.S. State Department and FBI have joined the effort.
Has Ng been found?
As of this report, Nancy Ng remains missing. The Ng family and those close to the missing woman have launched a GoFundMe to cover search expenses and to pay for travel to the area. Those involved in the investigation say the search has been hampered by the fact other attendees at the yoga retreat have since gone home to the United States, where they have been difficult to track down for further information.
In early Nov. 2023, the last-known video of Ng surfaced, taken from the shore as she left kayaking. She can be seen waving to the person behind the camera. Around that same time, ABC7 reported Guatemalan prosecutors concluded Ng drowned, but her family said they had information from their attorney to the contrary. Reportedly, the last known person to see Ng was a woman, and questions remain as to why it took so long for Ng to be officially reported missing.
The kayak company statement
Based on further reporting from ABC7, a few weeks after Ng vanished, the kayak company that lead the group excursion released a statement offering insight into what happened. According to the owners of Kayak Guatemala, the tourist group Ng was with, she was with 10 other kayakers when she went missing. Ng and the other woman were seen paddling away from the others, but Ng never returned. The speed with which the tour group left the area without paying their bill raised suspicion.
After searching both in the water and from the air, no sign of Ng was found. According to the Guatemalan government, the official search would not continue. At that time, Ng family continued to raise money for a private search effort. According to USA Today, Ng’s sister, Nicky Ng, called the time since her sister disappeared a, “living hell,” adding “when we first got the news that she was missing, we just had so many questions,” she said.
In a GoFundMe update, Nancy’s partner, Jared Lopez wrote the search was, “hampered by insufficient information regarding the exact circumstances and location of Nancy’s disappearance due to the failure of key witnesses (many of whom have returned to the United States in the past week) to step forward and provide a witness report.”