Dom Phillips

What are likely the bodies of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who had been missing for more than a week in Brazil's ...

Brazilian federal police said Sunday they had found a backpack, laptop and clothes in the Javari Valley, a remote portion of the Amazon where the two were conducting research. What are likely the bodies of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who had been missing for more than a week in Brazil’s Amazon jungle, were found on Monday. The Guardian reports that the Brazilian ambassador to the U.K. broke the news to Phillips’s family in the U.K. during a phone call early on Monday. Over the weekend a search team has found items belonging to the two men. This comes after police reported finding traces of blood in the boat of a fisherman who was arrested last week in connection to their disappearance.

The Brazilian ambassador to the U.K. contacted the Brit journalists' family to share news of the chilling discovery on Monday.

Phillips and Pereira vanished while in an area that is home to the largest number of uncontacted indigenous communities on the planet. On Monday, the Brazilian ambassador to the U.K. called Phillips’ family to say two bodies had been found. Citing Phillips’ wife Alessandra Sampaio, Brazilian news site G1 reported that the bodies found were those of Phillips and Pereira. The pair have worked together on expeditions in the Amazon for the last four years, according to The Guardian, where Phillips was a contributor.

Indigenous community members in the Javari Valley say they feel abandoned by Brazilian authorities.

The cartels are a formidable enemy for anyone wanting to bring back the rule of law in this area and protect the environment. He doesn't want to talk about the disappearance of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira either. But the fear is clear - say too much to outsiders and there may be consequences. "It's the government's fault - not giving enough protection and taking the lives of innocent people," he adds. He helped register and map incidents to be able to denounce crimes to the state. Teaching people how to use drones and GPS to track the poachers and fishermen. The village a few minutes drive downstream is about the same size as Sao Rafael where you can't not know everybody. Everyone in these riverside communities lives by fishing - including Amarildo. Mostly it's for their own consumption and to earn some extra money. "Nobody has anything to do with it." Over the last few years, there have been sweeping cuts to indigenous protection budgets. Commuters here are mostly fishermen, carried along the waters in simple wooden boats. In the Javari valley, rivers act as roads.

Dom Phillips and indigenous peoples expert Bruno Pereira disappeared in the Sao Rafael area of the Amazon on 5 June.

The Matis indigenous group, who have been searching for Mr Phillips, 57, and Mr Pereira, 41, came across what they believed to be personal items belonging to the men. The Phillips family had previously shared their belief that the pair would no longer be found alive, with his mother-in-law writing on Instagram: “They are no longer with us.” The post was shared by Mr Phillips’s wife. Mr Phillips’s family were informed of the discovery by the Brazilian ambassador to the UK early on Monday.

Brazilian police searching for missing British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira have found two bodies, but identification of the ...

Pereira, who previously led the local bureau of the Brazilian government’s Indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, has taken part in several operations against illegal fishing. The development came a day after police reported finding traces of blood in the boat of a fisherman who is under arrest as the only suspect in the disappearance. According to accounts by Indigenous people who were with Pereira and Phillips, the suspect brandished a rifle at them the day before the pair disappeared. The area where the two men disappeared has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. "He said he wanted us to know that … they had found two bodies," Sherwood said, referring to his conversation with the embassy. The BBC reported Monday that two bodies have been discovered, but official identification remains pending.

Brazil's search for an Indigenous expert and a journalist who disappeared in a restive area of the Amazon a week ago advanced with the discovery of a ...

In the 1980s, however, rubber tapping declined and they resorted to logging. The development came a day after police reported finding traces of blood in the boat of a fisherman who is under arrest as the only suspect in the disappearance. Rubber tappers founded all the riverbank communities in the area. In a statement Sunday night, police said they had identified the items as the belongings of both missing men, including a health card and clothes of Bruno Pereira, the Brazilian Indigenous expert. According to accounts by Indigenous people who were with Pereira and Phillips, he brandished a rifle at them the day before the pair disappeared. In 2019, Funai official Maxciel Pereira dos Santos was gunned down in Tabatinga in front of his wife and daughter-in-law. Pereira, who previously led the local bureau of the Brazilian government’s Indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, has taken part in several operations against illegal fishing. Only the Indigenous can legally fish in their territories. Fisherman Laurimar Alves Lopes, who lives on the banks of Itaquai, told AP that he gave up fishing inside the Indigenous territory after being detained three times. “We used a little canoe to go to the shallow water. It weighs up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and can reach 3 meters (10 feet). The fish is sold in nearby cities, including Leticia, Colombia, Tabatinga, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru. But then I said: I’m going to put an end to this, I’m going to plant,” he said during an interview on his boat.

Clothes and a health ID card were discovered by indigenous search groups over the weekend.

Then we found a tarp, shorts and a spoon,” Binin Beshu Matis said. “We used a little canoe to go to the shallow water. Their boots were also recovered, according to a police statement issued on Sunday.

Brazilian police said they have not confirmed that the “biological materials” found in the remote Amazon are the remains of British journalist Dom Phillips ...

Phillips and Pereira were visiting Indigenous surveillance teams trying to repel and report on the criminal land invaders. Paul Sherwood, Phillips’s brother-in-law, told The Post that he visited the Brazilian Embassy in London last week to discuss the disappearances. “But he wasn’t telling me that as an official statement, and would come back later with the results. Doring told him two bodies had been found tied to a tree in the forest. Search parties on Sunday recovered items that belonged to the two men, including Pereira’s health insurance card, their boots and Phillips’s backpack, which was filled with clothing. The report came more than a week after the journalist and a Brazilian government official went missing.

Brazilian Federal Police on Sunday said it had found personal belongings of veteran correspondent Dom Phillips and Brazilian researcher Bruno Araújo Pereira ...

In a news conference Wednesday, Amazonas state security Secretary-General Carlos Alberto Mansur said the man was arrested after being found in possession of "a lot of drugs" and ammunition used for illegal hunting. "The evidence points to the opposite at the moment," he said. Phillips and Pereira went missing on June 5, during a trip in the Javari Valley, in the far western part of Amazonas state.

Two bodies were apparently found tied to a tree in the Amazon rainforest during the search for missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert ...

They also found Pereira’s health card and clothes. “He said he wanted us to know that … they had found two bodies,” Sherwood told the British newspaper. The flurry of conflicting reports concerning the search for Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, who have been missing since June 5, come a day after police confirmed the discovery of unspecified “biological material” and personal items belonging to the two men. “He didn’t describe the location and just said it was in the rainforest and he said they were tied to a tree and they hadn’t been identified yet.” Phillips’s niece Dominique Davies told AFP via text message that “two bodies have been found” in the search, and that relatives were awaiting confirmation from federal police as to whether they are the missing men. Two bodies were apparently found tied to a tree in the Amazon rainforest during the search for missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, according to a Brazilian diplomat.