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Two bodies have been found during the search for British journalist Dom Phillips and a former indigenous official who have been missing in the remote Brazilian Amazon for more than a week.
The BBC reported on Monday that two bodies had been discovered, but official identification is still pending. The Guardian, where Phillips regularly collaborated, spoke with his brother-in-law, Paul Sherwood, who said the British embassy had contacted the family about the findings.
“He said he wanted us to know that … they had found two bodies,” Sherwood said, referring to his conversation with the embassy. “He didn’t describe the location and just said it was in the rainforest, and he said they were tied to a tree and hadn’t been identified yet.”
“He said that when it was light, or when it was possible, they would make an identification,” Sherwood added.
THE BRITISH JOURNALIST DOM PHILLIPS DISAPPEARED: POSSIBLE HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN THE AMAZON OF BRAZIL
A photo shows British journalist Dom Phillips, who disappeared while reporting in a remote part of the Amazon rainforest near the border with Peru, in Brazil, in this photo taken in December 2009 and obtained by Reuters on June 7. 2022. (Paul Sherwood / Brochure via REUTERS)
This comes after Brazilian federal police officers revealed on Sunday night that items belonging to Phillips, 57, and former indigenous official Bruno Pereira, 41, had been found that afternoon.
The two men were last seen on the morning of June 5 near the indigenous territory of the Javari Valley, located in an area of the remote Brazilian Amazon bordering Peru and Colombia. They returned alone by boat to the Itaquai to Atalaia do Norte but never arrived.
The objects were found Sunday afternoon and were transported by federal police officers by boat to Atalaia do Norte, the city closest to the search.
In a statement on Sunday night, police said they had identified the objects as belonging to the two missing men, including a health card and Pereira’s clothes.
Employees of the National Indigenous Foundation protest the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous Affairs Specialist Bruno Pereira in Brasilia on June 9, 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP via Getty Images)
A backpack identified as belonging to Phillips was found tied to a tree that was half submerged, a firefighter told reporters in Atalaia do Norte. It is the end of the rainy season in the region and part of the forest is flooded, according to The Associated Press.
Search crews also found a laptop concentrating efforts around a point on the Itaquai River where volunteers from the Matis Indigenous group found a tarpaulin of the boat used by the missing on Saturday.
The incident came a day after police reported finding traces of blood on the boat of a fisherman who is being held as the sole suspect in the disappearance. Officers also found organic matter in the river of possible human origin. Materials are being analyzed.
A federal police expert examines a ship confiscated by the working group for the rescue of indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips in the port of the city of Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas, Brazil, June 11, 2022 (Photo by JOAO LAET / AFP via Getty Images)
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado, is being held on charges of unlawful possession of restricted ammunition, but a judge ordered him to be detained for another 30 days while the investigation into the disappearances continues. According to the Indians who were with Pereira and Phillips, the suspect brandished a rifle on them the day before the couple disappeared.
The suspect denies any crime and said military police tortured him in an attempt to obtain a confession, his family told AP.
The area where the two men disappeared has been the scene of violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Violence has grown as drug gangs fight for control of waterways to ship cocaine, although Itaquai is not a known drug trafficking route.
Pereira, who previously headed the local office of the Brazilian government’s indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, has been involved in several operations against illegal fishing. In these operations, as a rule, fishing gear is confiscated or destroyed while fishermen are fined and briefly arrested.
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Only indigenous peoples can legally fish in their territories.
Authorities say the main line of police investigation into the disappearance has been aimed at an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in the Javari Valley Reserve, which is Brazil’s second largest indigenous territory. .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a Fox News Digital journalist covering politics, crime, policing and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.