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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Katie Weston

Dom Phillips: Clothes and laptop found in search for Brit missing in Amazon

Search teams have found clothes, a backpack and a laptop belonging to a British journalist and his colleague who both went missing in the Amazon rainforest seven days ago.

Dom Phillips, 57, and Brazilian indigenous affairs official Bruno Pereira, 41, vanished from a remote part of Brazil last week.

Witnesses said they saw the pair - who were on a reporting trip - travelling down the Itacoai river in the Sao Rafael community on Sunday, June 5.

In a statement, Brazilian Federal Police said the uncovered objects included a backpack and a pair of boots belonging to Mr Phillips, as well as a health card, black trousers, a black sandal and a pair of boots belonging to Mr Pereira.

Mr Phillips with his sister Sian, from Lancaster (Paul Sherwood/MEN MEDIA)

Elizeu Mayaruna, who works for indigenous agency Funai, told Reuters he found clothes, a tarp and a bottle of motor oil while searching the forest along the Itacoai river on Saturday.

And citing a firefighter spokesperson, newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo reported that divers discovered a large, black Equinox-branded backpack with books, a laptop and clothing inside on Sunday afternoon.

The development comes as the family of Mr Phillips, a freelance reporter who has written for the Guardian and the Washington Post, say their hopes of finding him alive have faded.

In a statement reported by The Guardian, Maria Lucia Farias Sampaio, Mr Phillips' mother-in-law, said she believed the pair were dead.

Mr Phillips is a freelance reporter who has written for the Guardian and the Washington Post (Paul Sherwood/MEN MEDIA)

She said: "They are no longer with us. Mother nature has snatched them away with a grateful embrace. The material has been undone and incorporated into the earth they so loved and respected.

"Their souls have joined those of so many others who gave their lives in defence of the rainforest and Indigenous peoples. Today they form part of an immense and pulsating vital energy that emanates from this immense greenery that is the heart of Brazil."

The paper said Mr Phillips' wife, Alessandra Sampaio, reposted the statement on Instagram saying she agreed.

Police officers and rescue team conduct a search operation for Mr Phillips and Bruno Pereira (REUTERS)

Reports emerged on Saturday that police searching for the two men had discovered "apparently human" remains in the Itaquai River, near Atalaia do Norte's port.

Authorities previously said blood found on a suspect's boat had been sent for analysis.

Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, also known as Pelado, was earlier named as a suspect and arrested for allegedly carrying a firearm without a permit - a common practice in the region.

Forensics experts carrying out examinations of a boat after the pair's disappearance (BRAZILIAN FEDERAL POLICE/AFP via)

Police did not clarify why he was being treated as a suspect but he is thought to have been among a group of men who threatened the missing men near an indigenous territory on Saturday, June 4.

Costa's lawyers and family have said he fished legally on the river but denied he had any role in the men's disappearance.

Some 150 soldiers had been deployed via riverboats to hunt for the pair and interview locals, joining indigenous search teams who have been looking for them for a week.

A GoFundMe set up by friends of the men surpassed its $20,000 goal early on Monday.

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