Brook Cheuvront went missing around noon on Saturday, 21 September. Picture: Facebook
The body of 20-year-old Brook Cheuvront, who went hiking in the Table Mountain National Park on Saturday morning, has been found by search and rescue teams on Devil’s Peak, in Cape Town.
The accomplished University of North Carolina (UNC) student – who has been described as “very bright and kind” – was reported missing at around noon on Saturday.
According to South African Parks (SANParks) spokesperson JP Louw, an initial search was conducted by SANParks rangers, Wilderness Search and Rescue members, and trail runners until late Saturday evening.
“The City of Cape Town’s piloted aircraft was then also deployed to assist with the search resulting in the location of the missing hiker’s body on the slopes of the mountain on Sunday,” said Louw.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie told The Citizen on Monday morning that an inquest case has been opened as no foul play is suspected.
He confirmed that Brook’s body was located on the slopes of Devil’s Peak at around 2pm and retrieved by an emergency medical services helicopter.
Pojie said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.
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On Sunday evening, her distraught father, Steve Cheuvront, requested that all Facebook posts asking people for information on his daughter’s whereabouts be taken down after authorities found her body.
“She was recovered. We are devastated. God help me and us,” he wrote on Facebook.
According to Brook’s Instagram page, she was in South Africa on an internship with Justice Desk Africa, an organisation that works alongside several groups, governments and businesses around the world to “challenge and eliminate the root causes of injustice”.
Cheuvront was the very first recipient of Avery High School’s Morehead-Cain Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship programme which made her studies at the UNC, in Chapel Hill, possible.
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center director, Todd Boyette, told WRAL News that Brook was looking forward to travelling to South Africa about a month ago.
“She was excited about the opportunities and the possibilities. We had no idea – well none of us did – that we wouldn’t see her again. Just tragic. Tragic,” he said.
A Reddit user who claims to be a childhood friend of Brook, revealed on the social media news website and forum that she was a very experienced hiker and “an extremely bright girl”.
“She loved space and astrophysics. She still is the smartest girl I know. I never once saw her without a smile or laughing. She had so much life ahead of her.
“We all believed she would change the world.”
Following the incident, Table Mountain National Park management reminded visitors to take note of the following safety tips:
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