Brazil police, indigenous search teams, deny bodies found of missing men Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira went missing in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest on June 5

Local media and Guardian newspaper, which Phillips wrote for, said bodies found but police and indigenous association said that was not the case

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A poster showing images of British journalist Dom Phillips, left, and expert on indigenous affairs Bruno Araujo Pereira. Photo: AP

Published: 12:00pm, 13 Jun 2022Updated: 11:46pm, 13 Jun 2022

Brazil’s federal police said on Monday that reports that the bodies of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira had been found in the Amazon rainforest were not correct.

Police said in a statement that only biological material and belongings of the missing men had been found so far, as previously announced. Local news outlet G1 had reported earlier in the day, quoting Phillips’ wife, that the two men had been found dead.

A British newspaper had also said on Monday that search teams had found two bodies in the rainforest, citing a relative of the British journalist briefed by a Brazilian diplomat.

Brazil’s ambassador in London told Paul Sherwood, Phillips’s brother-in-law, that authorities were working to identify the two bodies, which had been found tied to a tree near the river, according to The Guardian, to which Phillips often contributed.

However, a spokesman for indigenous association UNIVAJA told Reuters on Monday that search teams had not found bodies.

Police officers and rescue team members during the search for British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. Photo: Reuters

“I’ve spoken with the team in the field and it’s not true,” said Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer for UNIVAJA, which has organised search teams in the hunt for the missing men. “The search goes on.”