June 13, 2022
11:06
Bruno Pacheco – from Amazon Agency
MANAUS – The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja) and the superintendent of the Federal Police of Amazonas (PF-AM), Deputy Eduardo Fontes, denied that the bodies of British journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were found on Monday, 13, after eight days of searching. The journalist and the indigenous expert have been missing since June 5 in the region of Vale do Javari, in the coutryside of Amazonas state.
Earlier, Alessandra Sampaio, wife of Dom Phillips, said that the bodies of her husband and the indigenist had been found, according to Globo News commentator André Trigueiro. Univaja’s legal counsel, however, said that “they did not find any body in the search area.” To AMAZON AGENCY, Eduardo Fontes also denied the information and said that the journalist’s wife “is mistaken and that nobody from the Federal Police called her” to say that Phillips and Bruno were located.
“The information that was passed to her yesterday, and this is a commitment from the Federal Police, to inform her, her family and the [British] embassy before the press, was that their personal belongings were found and will be examined: clothes, cards, etc. Now we have been searching for the bodies and the boat since yesterday. We haven’t found them yet, I have contact with the team that is there”, said the delegate.
For the superintendent, the expectation is that the bodies of the journalist and the indigenous person will be found on Monday 13th: “We believe that today we will find them. Everything indicates that they are submerged, tied to a tree, just as the backpack and the boat were also”, said the superintendent Eduardo Fontes.
Bodies not found
In an official note, the Federal Police Crisis Committee reaffirmed that “the information that is being spread about the bodies of Mr. Bruno Pereira and Mr. Dom Phillips have been found is not correct”.
“As already reported, biological materials were found and are being examined, as well as the personal belongings of the missing men. As soon as they are found, the family and the media will be immediately informed”, the Federal Police communicates in the document.
Understand
The information about the bodies of Phillips and Bruno having been found was disclosed on the morning of Monday, 13, in a post on Twitter by André Trigueiro. In the social network, the GloboNews commentator said Alessandra received a call from the Federal Police confirming that the bodies were found, but that they still needed to be examined before identification could be carried out.
In addition, according to Trigueiro, the British Embassy had already informed Dom Phillips’ brothers of the location of the bodies of the journalist and the indigenous man. The PF-AM and Univaja, however, denied that the journalist and indigenist had been found.
Personal belongings
On Sunday evening, the Federal Police of AM released that personal belongings of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were found in the area where they are being searched. Among the materials are the health card, a pair of pants, a slipper and a pair of boots belonging to the indigenist and a backpack of the British journalist.
Also on Sunday, April 12, another boat was found in the São Rafael community in Atalaia do Norte (1,136 kilometers from Manaus), where the journalist and the indigenist were last seen, according to Univaja.
The indigenous organization believes that the boat may be owned by Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, the “Pelado”, who is suspected of involvement in the disappearance and is being detained for investigation. “In the vicinity of the site, a boat was found that may be owned by Mr. Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, known as ‘Pelado’, detained for investigation. The information about the property of the boat still needs to be confirmed by those responsible for the investigations,” informed Univaja, in a note released this Sunday, 12, to the press.
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