American woman, 20, found dead on South Africa’s Table Mountain after tracking app stopped working

An American woman was found dead in South Africa after she went missing while hiking Table Mountain in Cape Town, authorities confirmed on Monday.

Brook Cheuvront, 20, from Newland, North Carolina, was reported missing on Saturday after setting off at midday to trek up the mountain. Her friends became worried when a tracking app she’d used to update them suddenly stopped working, said SANParks, authorities for Table Mountain National Park.

After two extensive searches involving SANParks rangers, Wilderness Search and Rescue, and trail runners, Cheuvront’s body was eventually found by Cape Town aircraft “on the slopes of the mountain.”

Authorities said her cause of death remains unclear as it’s still being investigated. The 20-year-old had only been in South Africa for one month.

Cheuvront’s family was devastated by her death, sharing on Facebook: “Please take down all posts looking for Brook.

“She was recovered. We are devastated. God help me and us,” Steve Cheuvront wrote.

The 20-year-old — who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Carolina — had only been in South Africa since August, when she started an internship for a not-for-profit organization called Justice Desk Africa. In her LinkedIn profile, she wrote that the program focused on: “Empowering young South African boys from communities suffering from gang violence in the ¡Ntsika y Themba program to challenge gender-based violence and toxic masculinity.”

South African authorities offered their condolences to the family and thanked staff and stakeholders who played a part in the operation to locate her.

In a Facebook post, SANParks advised that visitors only do activities “in groups.. four or more,” inform others when heading off, and save the emergency numbers for Table Mountain National Park.

Authorities insisted in another post that comments about growing concerns over crime were “speculative and may cause unnecessary alarm” which can undermine their search efforts.

They added that since 2023, crime statistics “have drastically decreased from 16 (October 2023) and 32 (November 2023), to 6 (July 2024) and 3 (August 2024).”