Brazil police deny UK journalist, colleague's bodies found
June 13, 2022
Brazil's federal police on Monday denied a report that British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira had been found and identified.
Dom Philips, who has worked for news outlets including DW and the Guardian, and his colleague have been missing for more than a week in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
What do we know at present?
The news outlet G1 earlier cited Philips' wife Alessandra Sampaio saying she had been told that the bodies had been found. The information has not yet been confirmed by the Brazilian authorities. The Federal Police have said that only biological material and belongings of the missing men have been discovered so far.
Meanwhile, the indigenous association UNIVAJA also told the Reuters news agency that search teams had not found any bodies.
The two men had been seen for the last time on June 5 when they arrived at the community of Sao Rafael. From there, they departed for Atalaia do Norte, a trip that takes approximately two hours, but did not reach their destination.
Clothing belonging to Pereira had been found on Sunday, along with a health identification card in his name. A backpack with clothes belonging to Phillips, along with the boots of both men, were also discovered.
The items were found by a creek off a river where the two men had been seen previously.
They were on a reporting trip to Vale do Javari, which is near Brazil's borders with Peru and Colombia and is home to the world's largest concentration of uncontacted indigenous people.
The remote and lawless region has enticed cocaine-smuggling gangs, as well as illegal loggers, miners, and hunters.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said human remains had been found in the search, and suggested they belonged to the pair.
"The evidence leads us to believe something bad was done to them," he said.
The Brazilian president last year faced tough questioning from Phillips at news conferences about weakening environmental law enforcement. Bolsonaro last week said the two men "were on an adventure that is not recommended."
Edited by: Wesley Dockery