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University of North Carolina student Brook Cheuvront found dead after going missing on hike in South Africa: ‘We are devastated’

Brook Cheuvront enjoying week 1 of South Africa. August 18, 2024 Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/steve.cheuvront.5/posts/pfbid02EUifFsr326z7URCzPeZTeZdrKoYbyT1EKZHEvPZJGnnXHzkZSFenkz98WYEDdHPkl CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) â A UNC-Chapel Hill student studying abroad who vanished during a hike while in South Africa has been found dead, according to reports. Brook Cecilia Cheuvront, 20, of Newland, went hiking on Saturday at Devilâs Peak in Western Cape, according to News24 of South Africa. She was missing until she was found Sunday, police told the publication. A search group found Cheuvront and her body was flown out on a helicopter, according to News24. Cheuvront, a UNC sophomore and a Morehead-Cain Scholar, was on an internship at the University of Cape Town.

Brook Cheuvront, 20, was reported missing Saturday from Table Mountain in Cape Town — where she was studying — after she stopped responding to friends and couldn’t be located on a tracking app, a rep for SANPark, which manages the mountain, told CBS News.

Rangers and trail runners searched until late Saturday, when it was no longer practical to continue, spokesperson JP Louw said.

An aircraft joined the search Sunday — and found the American student’s body.

“She was recovered,” confirmed her dad, Steve Cheuvront, who had planned to fly in from North Carolina to help look for his daughter.

“We are devastated. God help me and us,” he wrote.

The cause of Cheuvront’s death is unclear and an investigation has been opened, according to authorities.

Cheuvront was a sophomore at the University of North Carolina who was in South Africa for an internship at the University of Cape Town, CBS affiliate WNCN reported.

The 20-year-old from of Newland, North Carolina, was also the 2022 valedictorian at Avery County High School, where she was a track runner.

SANParks said suggestions that there are “growing concerns of crime” at Table Mountain are “speculative and may cause unnecessary alarm which undermines worthy and successful efforts,” in a social media post on Monday.

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