A talented young sportswoman on a gap year in Peru has died from altitude sickness.

The Daily Mail reports that 23-year-old Katrina Jacks was hiking near Lake Titicaca when she became ill as the air thinned. The lake is the highest navigable lake in the world and is situated at an altitude of 12,555ft.

Ms Jacks died from natural causes resulting from the effects of altitude sickness. She did not receive hospital treatment when she became ill and her body has now been returned to the UK for burial.

Ms Jacks – from Chepstow in Gwent – was several months into a gap year trip to South America between leaving university and starting employment with an engineering company. She was described a straight-A student.

She had won medals for rowing, including a silver medal as part of the Welsh eight at the 2007 Commonwealth Games. She had also won gold medals at the National Schools Championships and represented Great Britain at under-16 level for two years.

Both her parents are GPs at the Vauxhall Practice in Chepstow.

She had been volunteering at an orphanage in Ecuador in South America while improving her Spanish. Ms Jacks had followed the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu before travelling to Lake Titicaca.

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