Finally, the police made some headway in the search for the missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. The belongings of the scribe and his companion have been found by the search teams, said Brazilian police on Sunday. Since last week, the duo had been missing in the Amazon rainforest. The clothing, which belonged to Pereira, has been found along with his health identification card, a backpack with Phillips’ clothes and the boots of both men, said police in a statement. The Equinox backpack, which contained clothes and a laptop, was discovered being tied to a half-sunken tree trunk in the area where the duo was last seen on Sunday, a fireman leading a search team told media.
To find the missing men, around 150 soldiers had been deployed via riverboats. They are also interviewing locals. Indigenous search teams are also looking for the pair for a week. The two men seemed to have gone on a reporting trip in the remote jungle area, where the world’s largest number of uncontacted indigenous people reside. In this lawless region, cocaine-smuggling gangs, miners, illegal loggers, etc flourish.
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Earlier, police in Brazil said on Friday that search teams have found “apparently human” remains in the river where the British reporter was seen last in the Amazon rainforest. This may be one of the biggest breaks yet in the investigation. Federal police said that the “organic material” was being sent for forensic analysis. Blood found on a suspect’s boat, which will be compared with genetic material from journalist Dom Phillips, will also be sent for forensic analysis.
(With inputs from agencies)
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