06/13/2022 20:37 (act 06/13/2022 20:40)
Men have been looking for men in the Amazon rainforest for a week ©APA/AFP
The fate of the missing British journalist and indigenous expert in the Amazon region remains uncertain. According to the media, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said: “There are indications that terrible things have been done to the disappeared.” According to the media, personal belongings of the two were found a good week after the disappearance. There were conflicting reports on Monday that the bodies of missing people had been found.
Firefighters reportedly discovered, among other things, the health card of Brazilian specialist Bruno Pereira in the water in a flooded area in the Itaquaí River. The information was released by the portal “G1”, citing the police. A backpack belonging to journalist Dom Phillips and the clothes and shoes of the two men were also found.
In the vicinity of the site, close to the border with Colombia and Peru, a boat belonging to a suspect who had already been arrested was discovered. The items, including a laptop, were tied to a tree, Brazilian media reported, citing a fire department spokesman. During the course of the investigation, the dive will continue in the area.
Phillips and Pereira did not arrive by boat on June 5 as planned in the town of Atalaia do Norte, in the far west of Brazil, according to a regional indigenous organization. Pereira had previously reported to the police that he had been threatened several times. Indigenous people, family members, friends and colleagues expressed concern that the search for the two disappeared was slow and not carried out with sufficient determination. The UN Human Rights Office urged Brazilian authorities to step up efforts.
Phillips has lived in Brazil for 15 years and worked for the British newspaper “The Guardian”. He had already traveled with Pereira, who also worked for the region’s indigenous authority, in the hard-to-reach Vale do Javari, where they were now sought after. More recently, the 57-year-old researched a book about protecting the Amazon region.
For example, while the Brazilian news portal “G1” reported, citing the reporter’s wife, that the bodies of the two men were found, the Federal Police and the umbrella organization of indigenous peoples denied the relevant information.
According to a report in the British newspaper The Guardian, an employee of the Brazilian ambassador in London told Phillips’ family by phone on Monday that two bodies that could have been those of the missing had been found. “He didn’t describe the location, he just said that it was in the rainforest and that they were tied to a tree and had not been identified,” said Paul Sherwood, Phillips’ brother-in-law.