A California woman’s family is going through a “living hell” after she disappeared in Guatemala while attending a yoga retreat and was prevented from getting information.
Nancy Ng, 29, left her home in Monterey Park on Oct. 14 to attend the weeklong trip to Lake Atitlan, her family said.
Ng was an active yoga practitioner and had attended the same retreat the previous year, with her sister Nancy saying she enjoyed it so much she wanted to go again.
On October 19, her family didn’t hear from her again and the person organizing the retreat said they couldn’t find her.
Worse still, her family has been unable to piece together any details from the day she disappeared, nor have they been able to contact anyone who saw her that day.
Nancy Ng, 29, left her Monterey Park home on Oct. 14 to attend the weeklong trip to Lake Atitlan, her family says
“The last two weeks have been hell because when we first got the news that she was missing, we had so many questions,” Sister Nancy told KTLA.
‘What happened? Where is she now? Is there a chance she’s still alive? We didn’t know anything,” she added.
Ng works in a local school district helping students with disabilities and is active in both yoga and travel in her personal life.
Nicky said her sister found real healing and peace on last year’s trip, near a large body of water in a volcanic crater, and she was so excited to go again.
“She said it’s so beautiful,” Nicky remembered.
“Last year she woke up every morning to spend some time there alone, without the group, and this year was going to be more exciting because they had activities planned on the lake.”
The Ng family has tried to get help from the State Department, the FBI and local officials.
They have also hired a team in Guatemala to conduct search and rescue missions and used divers and drones to locate her. They say they’ve searched about 95 percent of the lake.
Ng was an active yoga practitioner and had attended the same retreat the previous year, with her sister Nancy saying she enjoyed it so much she wanted to go again
Her family have been unable to find out any details from the day she disappeared, nor have they been able to contact anyone who saw her that day
Ng works in a local school district helping students with disabilities and is active in both yoga and travel in her personal life
“We don’t know where she went in, where she went missing because there’s no confirmation of that,” said Chris Sharpe, who runs Black Wolf Helicopters and is part of the search.
“We have a rough idea, but it varies from one side of the lake to the other.”
The most difficult part of the investigation, Sharpe says, is that the people who may have spoken to Nancy on October 14, when she disappeared, have not been open about details.
“We just don’t know because we’re missing that vital information,” Sharpe said.
Ng’s partner, Jared Lopez, has one Gofundme to help pay for all search and rescue missions.
Nicky said her sister found real healing and peace on last year’s trip, near a large body of water in a volcanic crater, and she was so excited to go again
Ng’s partner, Jared Lopez, has launched a Gofundme to help pay for all search and rescue missions
The Ng family has tried to get help from the State Department, the FBI and local officials
Sharpe says the fewer details equals a greater number of possibilities about what could have happened to Ng.
“We just want her to know that we love her so much and we just really want to take her home,” Nicky said.
The FBI told reporters that they are supporting Guatemalan officials in their search, but that they remain at the forefront of the search for Ng.
“Time is of the essence and we are racing against time to bring Nancy home,” her family said in a statement.
“It’s been a constant nightmare, not knowing what happened to Nancy or if we’ll ever get her back. All my family wants is to bring our sister/daughter home. Please help us with that.’