Indigenous people die in shipwreck on the Xingu River; teenager is missing

The bodies of five indigenous people were found after a shipwreck on the Xingu River in Altamira, Pará, last Wednesday afternoon (10). A 14-year-old teenager is missing and is wanted.

The case was first reported by Coiab (Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon), which provided solidarity for the victims of the Kayapó and Xikrin peoples. The flying vessel was transporting indigenous people from the Kararaô Indigenous Land, including men, women and children.

A "voadeira" is a small aluminum boat, widely used in the Amazon and Pantanal regions, where large rivers are used as means of transport.

"Coiab is following the developments of the incident with concern and hopes that the search and rescue teams will be able to urgently locate all the missing people, providing the necessary support to the victims and their families", stated the agency.

The Brazilian Navy and the Pará Fire Department, through the 9th Military Fire Brigade of Altamira, are working on the incident. As of this Sunday (14), the bodies of five victims had been found.

The search continues for the minor, identified as Beptoti. The Navy works through the Port Authority of the Eastern Amazon in coordination with Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples), the Brazilian Army and Norte Energia.

The corporation explained this Sunday that a new team of specialized military personnel from the Northern Hydrography Center, based in Belém, will be deployed to the search area with the high-precision underwater scanning device (sidescan), expanding search capacity

Source: CNN