Dom Phillips went missing while researching a book in the Brazilian Amazon’s Javari Valley with respected indigenous expert Bruno Pereira
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)The wife of a British journalist missing in a remote part of the Amazon has urged authorities to intensify their search for him, saying: “Every second counts.”
Dom Phillips disappeared on Sunday morning while on a two-day boat trip through the Javari region of Brazil’s Amazonas state where he was reporting for a book he is writing about conservation.
The 47-year-old, who is a regular contributor to the Guardian, had been travelling with Indigenous expert Bruno Araujo Pereira when the pair went missing in a part of the Amazon rainforest which is close to the Peruvian border and a notorious drug-trafficking route.
The men had received death threats in the days prior to their disappearance, according to the Coordination of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIJAV).
Mr Phillips’ wife, Alessandra Sampaio, who lives him in the north-eastern city of Salvador, released a statement appealing for help to find them.
“Brazilian authorities, our families are in despair. Please answer the urgency of the moment with urgent actions,” she said.
“As I make this appeal they have been missing for more than 30 hours … [and] in the forest every second counts, every second could be the difference between life and death.
“All I can do is pray that Dom and Bruno [Araújo Pereira] are well, somewhere, and unable to continue with their journey because of some mechanical problem, and that all this will end up being just another story in these full lives of theirs.”
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tweeted: “Phillips interviewed me for the Guardian in 2017. I hope they are fine, safe and will be found quickly.”
O indigenista Bruno Araújo Pereira e o jornalista inglês Dom Phillips estão desaparecidos na Amazônia. Estavam na região reportando invasões de terras indígenas. Phillips me entrevistou para o @guardian em 2017. Espero que sejam encontrados logo, que estejam bem e em segurança. pic.twitter.com/nuyJfmyOqr
— Lula (@LulaOficial) June 6, 2022
The pair disappeared while returning from a trip to the Jaburu Lake region, where Mr Phillips interviewed local Indigenous people, UNIJAV said. They were the only people on the boat.
The place where they went missing is the primary access route to and from the Vale do Javari, Brazil’s second-largest Indigenous territory about a third of the size of the UK.
Brazil’s federal prosecutors said they have opened an investigation and that the Federal Police, Amazonas state’s civil police, the national guard and navy had been mobilised.
The navy said it sent a search-and-rescue team of seven and would deploy a helicopter on Tuesday.
The Javari valley region has experienced repeated shootings between hunters, fishermen and official security agents, who have a permanent base in the area, which has the world’s largest population of uncontacted Indigenous people. It is also a major route for cocaine produced on the Peruvian side of the border, then smuggled into Brazil to supply local cities or to be shipped to Europe.
Sian Phillips appeals for urgency from Brazilian authorities in the search for brother Dom Phillips, journalist missing in the Amazon since Sunday, please keep up the pressure!@FCDOGovUK@trussliz@BrazilEmbassyUK@mhopkinsfco @marcolonghi4dn@fyldeca@jamescleverly pic.twitter.com/5KruRDOKjK
— Paul Sherwood (@paulsherwood6) June 7, 2022
In September 2019, an employee of the Indigenous affairs agency was shot dead in Tabatinga, the largest city in the region. The crime was never solved.
Mr Phillips has reported from Brazil for more than a decade. The journalist’s sister, Sian Phillips, said in a video statement last night: “We knew it was a dangerous place but Dom really believed it’s possible to safeguard the nature and the livelihood of the Indigenous people.
“We are really worried about him and urge the authorities in Brazil to do all they can to search the routes he was following. If anyone can help scale up resources for the search that would be great because time is crucial.
“We love our brother and want him and his Brazilian guide found ... every minute counts.”
