Heartbreaking story behind viral Pahalgam photo: A Navy officer, schoolteacher wife on their honeymoon

Navy officer Vinay Narwal and his wife, Himanshi, a school teacher, are featured in the photo depicting the tragedy at a gorgeous meadow in Kashmir after 26 tourists were killed in a terrorist attack on Tuesday, according to the couple's relatives and navy officials. The pair married six days ago and are on their honeymoon in Baisaran, near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district. They had planned to visit Switzerland, but the visa was taking too long. Relatives stated they settled on Pahalgam.

The horrific incident occurred 48 hours after they landed in Srinagar. When the couple's photo went viral on social media on Tuesday, the identity of the gentleman laying on the ground and the weeping young woman next to him, still wearing her bridal bangles, was uncertain. It was unclear whether the man was still alive. Separately, Navy sources stated that this photograph depicted Lt Narwal and wife.

The shot was extensively shared on social media following the attack. It was distributed by the Press Trust of India news agency following an arrangement made by a stringer in Srinagar. According to a source in the PTI's Delhi office, the image appears to have been taken using a mobile phone and is not a screen grab.