Search for missing hiker at Black Mountain enters second day
UPDATE: Body found believed to be missing hiker: SDPD
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The search and rescue efforts to find a missing and at-risk hiker on Black Mountain in Rancho Penasquitos entered a second day on Monday.
It comes after a nearly all-day effort on Sunday to locate 50-year-old Diem “Dina” Le Nguyen, who was reported missing shortly after 9:30 a.m. when she became separated from the group of about 100 hikers she was with on Nighthawk Trail.
The San Diego Police Department, who is assisting the search, said Le Nguyen is considered “missing at risk” due to the difficulty of the trail and the extreme heat in the hours after she went missing. An excessive heat advisory was in place at the time she went missing.
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According to SDPD Lt. Dan Meyer, Le Nguyen made a distress call at 10:08 a.m. on Sunday where she said she was “extremely hot and needed water.”
“Hiking in the summer months is dangerous, especially when it’s super hot out,” Meyer said in a press conference on Monday. “Even if you take all the precautions available to you, there’s still a chance that you may be in a situation that you don’t want to be in.”
Authorities mounted a massive search effort using helicopters and a drone unit to try locating Le Nguyen, which was paused late Sunday. According to authorities, a smaller group of search crews continued through the night, but she was not found.
Around 8:30 a.m. Monday, another group of about 30 rescue volunteers gathered in Hilltop Community Park, which is at the base of the mountain, before setting out again.
“We have all the resources we can dedicated to finding her and we will be out here until doing so,” Meyer said.
Le Nguyen is described as an Asian woman who stands around 5-feet, 1-inch tall and weighs 105 pounds. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a black shirt with a pink heart on the front, black pants, a brown hat and sunglasses. She was also carrying a black backpack.
Police told FOX 5/KUSI Sunday that there had been several tips of possible sightings in the area by community members.
On Monday, Meyer said search and rescue crews are using these tips in tandem with cell phone pings to narrow down possible sites where the hiker could be, although they have not yet been successful in tracking her down thus far.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts or who may have seen her on the trail is encouraged to call 9-1-1. However, SDPD has urged the public to stay away from the trail while the search is underway.
FOX 5’s Elizabeth Alvarez contributed to this report.
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