Two bodies were found tied to a tree in the Javarí Valley region, a remote region in the far west of Amazonas state in Brazil. It could be a British journalist and a Brazilian anthropologist who have been missing since Sunday June 5. The Brazilian ambassador to the UK broke the news to Dom Phillips’ family early on Monday, reports the Guardian, a newspaper for which the 57-year-old Briton regularly works. The identification is in progress on Monday.
“He said he wanted us to know that…they had found two bodies,” said Paul Sherwood, Phillips’ brother-in-law. “He didn’t describe the place and just said it was in the rainforest and he said they were tied to a tree and hadn’t been identified yet,” he said. he continued.
Alessandra Sampaio, the wife of the British journalist, told the Brazilian newspaper Globo, that the remains of her husband and that of anthropologist Bruno Pereira, 41, had been found. A little later, far-right president Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that “human viscera were found floating in the river”. Information that has not been confirmed by the federal police of the state of Amazonas.
The anthropologist had already been threatened
The news comes after items belonging to the two men were found during a search in the Javarí Valley region, a remote area in the far west of Amazonas, where they disappeared while returning from a four-day reporting trip. “A health card, black pants, a black sandal and a pair of boots belonging to Bruno Pereira, and a pair of boots and a backpack belonging to Dom Phillips and containing personal clothing”, detailed the federal police of the state of Amazonas.
According to local indigenous activists, Bruno Pereira was frequently threatened for his fight against encroachment on indigenous lands. The two men were traveling together by boat through the region of the Javarí Valley, close to Peru and Colombia; conducting interviews for this book.
They were last seen on June 5, in the locality of Sao Gabriel, not far from their destination, the city of Atalaia do Norte. On Tuesday, Jair Bolsonaro had described the two men’s expedition as “an unrecommended adventure”. “It may be an accident, they may have been executed,” he said.