2 Nelson residents among the dead in India attacks

Two Nelson County residents who became victims of terrorist attacks in India have died.

Alan Scherr, 58, and his daughter Naomi Scherr, 13, were in India for a spiritual retreat with the Synchronicity Foundation. They lived at the group’s monastery near Wintergreen resort.

After terrorists struck the hotel Oberoi, where the group was staying, and several other sites in Mumbai, India, the two were unaccounted for, although some other members of the Synchronicity movement said they had been shot. Their fate was still not known Thursday evening.

This morning the foundation received confirmation from the U.S. State Department that the Scherrs’ bodies had been identified.

About 25 members of the Synchronicity Foundation, not all of them from Nelson County, were staying at the Oberoi this week. The group’s spiritual leader Master Charles Cannon was teaching meditation and spirituality classes.

Details of what happened to the foundations members during the attacks are emerging.

“Some were in the café having a snack, after the program had ended,” said Bobbie Garvey, vice president and managing director of the Synchronicity Foundation. “They are the ones who were shot. The terrorists came into the café and started shooting.” Four other members were injured.

Other members were in their rooms at the Oberoi Hotel, Garvey said. They “remained for the whole two days at the hotel,” Garvey said.

After the attacks authorities dealt with hostage situations and much of the city was on lockdown. Now the challenge is to get the surviving members of the group home.

“We will be contacting our congressman and senator,” Garvey said. “We will need all the assistance we can get to get these people out of India.” The foundation also is awaiting family decisions on what to do next, and an attorney was en route to Nelson County to help.

“I’ve already started speaking with them today, about whether we’re going to bring them back here or if Kia (Scherr) and some of the family members will go to India.”

According to a letter on the group’s Web site, Alan and Kia Scherr and their daughter moved to the Shrine of the Heart Synchronicity Sanctuary in Faber more than a decade ago.

Alan Scherr “was a passionate Vedic astrologer and meditation teacher who inspired many people to begin a journey of self awareness and meditation,” the Web site said.

Other members in Mumbai are from Canada and Australia as well as the United States, Garvey said.

The foundation is holding a press conference at 2 p.m. at its sanctuary.

For more information on the Scherrs and the attacks in India, read Saturday’s edition of The News & Advance and check back with NewsAdvance.com.

Media General News Service contributed.