An American woman who went missing while hiking in South Africa has been found dead, authorities have confirmed.

Brook Cheuvront, a 20-year-old student from North Carolina who was studying abroad, vanished Saturday during a hike on Table Mountain in Cape Town.

A search party found Cheuvront’s body around 2pm Sunday in an area known as Devil’s Peak, Western Cape police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie told South African news website News24.

Her remains were flown out via helicopter and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. Authorities have opened an inquest into her death.

Cheuvront’s heartbroken father Steve also confirmed her death on Sunday, posting on Facebook that the family was ‘devastated’ by the ‘nightmare’.

Cheuvront, who attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was on an internship at an NGO and is said to have loved hiking and exploring.

Cheuvront was reported missing on Saturday after 12pm after a tracking app she was using stopped updating. According to reports, she had been hiking alone.

Worried friends called the police when there were no updates on her tracking app, and they could not contact her by phone.

An initial search was conducted by rangers, wilderness search and rescue members, and trail runners until late Saturday evening when it was no longer practical to continue, said South African National Parks (SANParks) spokesman JP Louw.

An aircraft joined the search the next day and helped to locate the body.

‘The body of the missing hiker was found in an area which is part of Devil’s Peak, and was retrieved by EMS helicopter,’ Pojie told News24. ‘An autopsy will be conducted to determine the possible cause of death.’

The management of SANParks, which manages Table Mountain and other national parks, said her cause of death was still unclear.

South African authorities have urged people to avoid hiking on their own, suggesting it be done in groups of at least four people.

Steve Cheuvront confirmed his daughter’s death on social media, posting: ‘Please take down all post looking for Brook. She was recovered. We are devastated. God help me and us.’

In earlier Facebook posts, he had revealed that he was planning to fly to South Africa to aid in the search for the 20-year-old.

‘Please, please, let her be found. It will be daylight there in 90 min. Search and rescue. The US ambassador is aware. All resources will be sent. I may be flying over tomorrow,’ he wrote on Saturday.

Cheuvront was a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill and had been on an internship at the University of Cape Town, WNCN reported.

She relocated to South Africa in August and was interning with the Ntsika ye Themba program, which works to educate young boys about gender-based violence and toxic masculinity. The program also works to empower boys who are raised in communities that suffer from gang violence.

Cheuvront has visited several communities in South Africa since her move, posts on her Instagram page revealed.

She enjoyed a meal at a local market in Soweto, Joburg, according to a post shared on August 26, and toured Lesotho before moving to Gauteng.

That same day she shared photographs of animals at the Pilanesberg National Park, located north-west of Johannesburg.

The ‘passionate’ student was double majoring in English and Philosophy at college, with a minor in Astronomy, her LinkedIn profile states.

She stated she was interested in the ‘role of a scientific mindset in human and civil rights litigation, as well as astronomy and scientific education as a tool for advocacy and empowerment’.

‘I believe that great passion facilitates great learning and I am an advocate for introducing complex issues on a level that brings all voices to the table,’ she wrote on her profile.

She was also a cross-country runner and the 2022 valedictorian of her high school.