Fears for the safety of a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous expert have grown to disappear in one of the most remote corners of the Amazon just days after receiving threats.
Dom Phillips, a longtime contributor to the Guardian in Brazil, was last seen over the weekend in the Javari region of the state of Amazonas, a vast region of rivers and rainforests near border with Peru.
The journalist was traveling with Bruno Araújo Pereira, a former government official in charge of protecting the uncontacted tribes in Brazil, who has long received threats from loggers and miners seeking to invade their lands.
Phillips, who is working on a book on the environment with the support of the Alicia Patterson Foundation, is based in the Brazilian city of El Salvador and has been reporting on Brazil for more than 15 years for newspapers such as the Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times and Financial Times.
Dom Phillips traveling with guide Bruno Pereira. Photo: Gary Calton / The Observer
On Monday, local indigenous leaders sounded the alarm after the two men disappeared during an information mission on the river network around the city of Atalaia do Norte, the entry point to the Javari reserve.
In a statement, the Univaja indigenous group said Phillips and Pereira had left last week by boat for a region known as Lago do Jaburu, arriving at their destination on Friday evening.
At around 6am on Sunday, after two days of reporting, it is believed that the couple started returning by the river to Atalaia do Norte. The trip should not have taken more than three hours, but a search group was sent around 2pm after they did not arrive.
Univaja’s statement said the men had received threats in the days leading up to his disappearance, although he did not provide more specific details.
A Guardian News & Media spokesman said: “The Guardian is very concerned and is urgently seeking information on the whereabouts and condition of Mr Phillips. We are in contact with the British embassy in Brazil and local and national authorities to try to establish the facts as soon as possible “.
Phillips had joined one of Pereira’s expeditions to the same region in 2018 to report on the lost tribes of the Amazon for the Guardian.
He is known for his love of the Amazon region and has traveled extensively there to report on the crisis facing Brazil’s environment and its indigenous communities.
“Amazônia sua linda (Amazonia, beauty),” the journalist wrote last week on Instagram along with a video of a boat meandering along one of the region’s rivers.
Federal police officials in the Amazon capital, Manaus, said they were aware of the disappearances and were working on the case. It was also thought that the army mobilized troops to aid in the search, while indigenous activists and environmentalists also organized independent research groups.
Human Rights Watch said it was extremely concerned about the situation and urged authorities to devote all possible resources to the search effort to ensure its safety.