The boat used by murdered British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira was found to be traveling through the Amazon rainforest, police said as they continued to investigate the double murder.
The speedboat sank about 20 meters (65 feet) deep under the Itacoai River in northern Brazil with six sandbags.
Authorities said they were taken to the site of the sunken ship by the latest suspect in the killings, Jeferson da Silva Lima, or ‘Pelado da Dinha’, which was handed over to police on Saturday.
The latest finding comes when police announced five new suspects believed to have helped hide the couple’s bodies after they died.
Police did not name the new suspects, adding in a brief statement that the ongoing investigations are intended to “clarify all the circumstances, motives and those involved in the case.”
The couple disappeared in one of the most remote corners of the rainforest a few days after Pereira received threats from loggers and miners in the region.
The two men were in the community of Sao Rafael and were returning by boat to the nearby city of Atalaia do Norte, when they disappeared.
Image: Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, a suspect in the case of the Amazon killings, seen on a boat in 2021 Image: Police officers escort Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, accused of being involved
Their bodies were found 10 days later, with an autopsy suggesting they were killed by a “firearm with typical hunting ammunition.”
Three men have already been arrested.
Image: Bruno Pereira disappeared in the Amazon with Dom Phillips on June 5th. Image: TV BAND
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Phillips has reported on Brazil for more than 15 years for newspapers such as The Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Financial Times.
He had been researching a book on the Amazon and its environmentalists.
The wild and lawless region has attracted cocaine smuggling gangs, along with loggers, miners and illegal hunters.