A woman who went missing after leaving her home on Thursday was found dead on Kowloon Peak Sunday, ending a search operation that saw several government rescue units deployed to locate the solo hiker.
Dawn Shek, 24, was airlifted to Pamela Youde Methersole eastern Hospital in Chai Wan in the evening.
Shek’s missing person post went viral over the weekend, with over 7,000 people joining a Facebook group called “Find young female hiker Dawn Shek.”
Some volunteers mobilized small teams to search for Shek, on top of ongoing efforts of government rescue teams including fire services and a police tactical unit.
Her sister, Sophie, wrote on Facebook Monday: “Although the result [of the search operation] has made us extremely sad, but at least we found [my] sister. [We are] extremely grateful for everybody’s help.”
Shek, reportedly a hotel chef, left her Nam Shan Estate home in Shek Kip Mei on Thursday afternoon, according to security footage from her block’s lobby.
According to her sister’s post, family members believed she had gone hiking as her hiking shoes, windbreaker and backpack were not at home.
Read more: Gov’t lists several popular hiking sites as accident ‘black spots’ to avoid
Friends who regularly hiked with Shek said they were not with her and were unsure of where she had gone. But computer records showed she had last searched for Kowloon Peak and watched a YouTube video of how to hike the mountain.
During the search operation, a blue shoe and a fisherman’s hat belonging to Shek were uncovered near the hiking trail.
Kowloon Peak, also known as Fei Ngo Shan, is the tallest mountain in Kowloon. A short hike down from Kowloon Peak sits Suicide Cliff, named for its treacherous climb. It is one of the hikes the government suggests avoiding, according to its list “accident black spots.”
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