On Monday morning, an embassy staffer phoned his brother-in-law and Phillips sister to inform them that the bodies of a British journalist and a Brazilian expert had been found tied to a tree, a week after the couple disappeared into the Ita River. However, this information was later refuted by the federal police, whose forensic teams examined an area where indigenous volunteer investigators found items belonging to the two missing on Saturday afternoon. On Tuesday, the ambassador, Fred Arruda, wrote to the Phillips family to revoke the embassy statement. “We are deeply saddened that the embassy passed on to the family yesterday information that was incorrect,” Arunda said. The Brazilian diplomat claimed that a multidisciplinary team set up at the London embassy to respond to the disappearances had been “misled” by information he had received from “investigators”. “After some reasoning, it rained on the part of the multi-service team, for which I wholeheartedly apologize,” Arruda added, insisting “the search operation will continue, without sparing any effort.” “Our thoughts remain with Dom, Bruno, yourself and the other members of both families,” the ambassador said. A search operation led by the natives has so far located a number of objects belonging to the two men, in an area of flooded forest near the spot where they are suspected of being ambushed in the river. However, contrary to the information provided by the embassy to the Phillips family, their bodies have not yet been found.
