The Amazon Firefighters find a backpack where the journalist and the indigenist were lost in Brazil

MADRID, 13 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Fire Department of the Brazilian region of the Amazon has assured this Sunday that it has found a backpack with personal belongings in the location of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the defender of indigenous rights Bruno Araújo Pereira, who disappeared last Sunday in that area. .

The Brazilian Federal Police has confirmed the finding: "In the region where the search has been concentrated, personal objects belonging to the disappeared have been found, a health card in the name of Bruno Pereira, black pants, black flip-flops and a pair of boots by Bruno Pereira, and a pair of boots and a backpack by Dom Phillips containing personal clothing", he specified, as reported by the Brazilian newspaper 'O Globo'.

The authorities have explained that the material will be examined by a coroner. The backpack has been found tied to a tree, in an area with flooded land.

Likewise, the Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari (Unijava) has reported this Sunday that a boat has been found that could belong to the main suspect, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira.

A group of volunteers alerted search teams on Friday that they had found signs of excavation on the banks of the Itaguaí River, one of the points where Phillips and Pereira were last seen before their trail was lost.

Phillips and Pereira disappeared on Sunday: their trail was lost in the Itaguaí River, supposedly when they were on their way to meet with local communities. The Yavarí Valley is considered one of the main areas in the world with uncontacted tribes, but it is also a focus of illegal activities and armed groups.

This aspect was used by the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, to question the expedition. "Only two people in a boat in a completely wild region is an adventure that is not recommended to do. Anything can happen. It can be an accident, it can be that they are executed," said the president.

President Bolsonaro defended on Friday that the authorities are immersed in a "relentless search" and "without rest" for the disappeared, arguing that the work to find their whereabouts began "from the first moment" in which there was evidence of what happened. .

The Brazilian Federal Police found blood on Thursday in a boat owned by one of the main suspects in the disappearance of Phillips and Pereira, although for now there is no official record of what state they are in or where.

In fact, one of the suspects, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, was sentenced to 30 days in preventive detention for his alleged involvement in the case.