Brazilian lost in Amazon dies in father’s arms

A BRAZILIAN student lost in the Amazon rain forest for more than 40 days was found by his father, only to die in his arms shortly after, rescue officials said yesterday.

Jonathan dos Santos Alves, 18, had been lost in the forest since mid-May, when he became separated from two friends he was hunting with in an area 116km north of the city of Manaus.

Fire and rescue department chief Antonio Dias dos Santos said he had been missing for 42 days.

The official search was called off a month ago but his father, Edilson, continued looking with his brother and two other men.

On Saturday, they found Jonathan lying next to a river, dehydrated, emaciated and covered in insect bites.

“I held him in my arms and got the insects away from his mouth,” his father, a 40-year-old farmer, was quoted as saying by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper. “When I tried to revive him, he gritted his teeth and died.”

Jonathan was found about 43km from where he went missing.

Pictures from the scene showed rescuers using a helicopter to lift his body from a tree.

His father had placed it there at the weekend to keep it from being eaten by animals.