American hiker found dead on mountain in South Africa

An American woman who went missing while hiking on Table Mountain in South Africa has been found dead, authorities said.

Brook Cheuvront, a student from North Carolina, was in Cape Town to do an internship with an NGO.

The 20-year-old student was reported missing Saturday after a tracking app she was using while hiking solo stopped updating and she could not be reached.

His body was discovered on Sunday in a mountainous area in the background known as Devil’s Peak, police told local media.

South African National Parks (SANParks), which manages Table Mountain and other national parks, said the hiker left her room at noon to climb the mountain.

Her friends called the police because there were no updates on her tracking app and they couldn’t contact her by phone.

A rapid search by park rangers and wilderness search and rescue teams was conducted until it was called off late Saturday.

A helicopter joined the search the next day and helped locate his body on the mountain slopes.

“The circumstances surrounding the hiker’s death are still under investigation,” SANParks said. said in a statement.

Police said an autopsy would be carried out to determine the possible cause of death.

SANParks said an investigation into Cheuvront’s death was ongoing.

In a Facebook postCheuvront’s father said the family was “devastated.”

“God help me and all of us,” wrote Steve Cheuvront.

She was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was doing an internship with a non-governmental organization (NGO).

South African authorities denied that there was a crime problem in Table Mountain National Park, but urged visitors to avoid hiking alone in a separate article.