“Human entrails” were found floating in a river and were being examined Monday to see if the remains of a British journalist and Brazilian expert on indigenous peoples who went missing for eight days in the Amazon were. President Jair Bolsonaro announced.
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For their part, several family members of journalist Dom Phillips said that they had been informed that two bodies had been found and that their identification was in progress, and the police had not confirmed this information so far.
Dom Phillips, 57, and Bruno Pereira, 41, were last seen on Sunday, June 5, when they boarded a boat on an expedition to Javari, a hard-to-reach area in the western Amazon, near Peru that is considered dangerous. For all kinds of traffic.
“The search is ongoing. But everything indicates that they were harmed, and human entrails were found floating on the river and brought to Brasilia for DNA identification,” the Brazilian head of state revealed during an interview with CBN Radio.
“Given the time that has passed, eight days already, it would be very difficult to find them alive. I pray that it is, but the information we have makes us fear otherwise.
Members of the British journalist’s family said earlier this morning that “two bodies have been found” but identification is still underway, information that has not been confirmed by the local police at the present time.
“We are awaiting confirmation from the Federal Police to see if it is Dom and Bruno or not. We are still concerned in the meantime,” Dominic Phillips’ niece Dominic Davies told AFP.
The journalist’s wife made similar comments to TV Globo.
For its part, the Federal Police said that “the information that the bodies of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were found is inaccurate” and that “biological materials” and the personal effects of two missing persons are being analyzed.
On Sunday, authorities privately announced the discovery of a backpack, shoes and a health insurance card belonging to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, the first major turning point in the slowly beginning searches.
“At first we had great hope that they would sense danger and hide in the woods. Dom Phillips’ mother, Maria Lucia Farias, 78, commented on Sunday, but not anymore.
Author of dozens of articles on threats to the environment and indigenous peoples in the Amazon, the journalist, long-time contributor to the British newspaper The Guardian, was preparing a book on the subject.
