Missing Montana hiker believed to have died in accident

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Searchers looking for a Montana State University graduate student who went missing while hiking in the Beartooth Mountains in southern Montana say they do not think she’s still alive.

Red Lodge Fire Rescue says that after nearly a week of intense search efforts, it’s likely 23-year-old Tatum Morell was involved in an accident and could not activate her satellite communicator.

The Billings Gazette reports she contacted her mother in Ketchum, Idaho, with the satellite device July 1 but hasn’t been heard from since.

She was expected to return July 5.