There has been a widespread search in San Juan province for German tourist Julia Horn since she went missing last Thursday while trekking in the mountainous area called Cerro Tres Marías. However, the search was suspended on Monday after a body matching her description was found in the area.

The 19-year-old was last seen on May 16 at around 11 a.m. when a security camera recorded her getting off a bus alone in El Castillito and heading to the Tres Marías trekking trail. Her phone last emitted a signal that day at 3:34 p.m.

The weather was not suitable for trekking on Thursday, given that it was rainy and rocks could get slippery. The rain and intense fog persisted over the following days, making the search — which includes drones, helicopters, trained dogs, police, and a special rescue team — difficult.

The search had to be temporarily called off on Sunday evening, and restarted on Monday morning, the first day with full sunlight since Horn disappeared. Hours later, a helicopter team reported a body at the bottom of a gorge, around 30 meters below the normal trekking path and 12 kilometers away from the trail’s starting point at the mountain base.

“We presume it is Julia because [the body] matches her physical characteristics,” prosecutor Daniela Pringles told the press on Monday afternoon. “We can’t be certain until this is scientifically confirmed.”

Retrieving the body is expected to take several hours, given it is very difficult to reach the place where it was found.

“A female body was sighted from the helicopter and it matches all the images we have of Julia,” Pringles said.

Prosecutor Ignacio Achem told the TN news network their main hypothesis is that Horn suffered a fatal accident, and added that the only way to get to the body’s location is by climbing the mountain with special gear.

Horn arrived in Argentina around a month ago for an internship with the educational NGO Youth For Understanding. She spent her first two weeks in the country in Santiago del Estero province, then went to Catamarca and arrived in San Juan on Thursday. She was supposed to return to Germany on Sunday, she told San Juan’s Canal 8 news channel last week during a brief interview about her work in the province.

According to the Mountain Prevention Group (GPM by its Spanish initials)  — a provincial organization that regulated trekking in the Tres Marías area with certified mountain guides — recent government budget cuts have led to a lack of supervision and accident prevention in the area since December. 

“The reality is that the contract with the previous administration expired in December and we’ve been having conversations trying to bring it back since February. Unfortunately, everything’s been delayed again,” Ana Valles, the director of GPM, told the Herald. She explained that there have been several meetings since President Javier Milei took over the presidency, but no signed agreement with the new national authorities.

“In the five years GPM lasted there were no reported deaths in any of the surrounding mountains, thank God, and we were able to resolve minor incidents without having to activate emergency protocols. We also advised over 30,000 tourists and the general public on the trails and safety precautions for being on the mountain.”

There are several empty GPM outposts in the area, including at the base of the trail Horn embarked on.

According to the Club Andino Mercedario, a local mountaineering club collaborating with the search for Horn, the Tres Marías’ rocky terrain has plenty of markers but can be tricky to explore with its narrow gorges and caves. Its peak is over 1000 meters above sea level and is one of the most popular mountainous areas in San Juan. 

The club told the Herald that best practices when trekking in the area include not venturing alone onto unknown trails and letting someone know of your whereabouts and the estimated time of arrival. There are also lists of certified local mountain guides available.