Former Mixmag editor reported missing in the Amazon

British journalist and former Mixmag editor Dom Phillips is missing in the Brazilian Amazon – as reported by The Guardian. 

The freelancer – now based in Salvador – was Mixmag’s editor throughout most of the ’90s. He was last seen in the Peru-bordering Javari region over the weekend with a former government official and expert in Brazil’s Indigenous tribes, Bruno Araújo Pereira, as the pair were on a reporting trip. 

News of the pair’s disappearance was triggered by local indigenous leaders after they failed to return from what should have been a three-hour boat trip on Sunday morning. 

Some regions of the Amazon have become incresingly dangerous in recent years due to illegal mining, logging, hunting and narcotics processes that continue to operate without prosecution and often with violence when met with any resistance.

The news is particularly worrying, given the pair had recently been receiving threats. Phillips, who moved to Brazil in 2007, is currently writing a book about the environment. 

The police, navy, and local activists have reportedly begun searching the vast Amazonas state for Phillips and Pereira. Our thoughts are with the friends of Dom and Bruno and the pair themselves; we hope they are found safe and well.