Four people from the same family including teenage sisters have been brutally butchered by machete-wielding pirates while they were out fishing on a river.
A man aged 71, his wife aged 37 and their two daughters aged 18 and 14 went out fishing close to their houseboat on Sunday, 24th October, and failed to return.
The family members were found dead near the mouth of the Badajos River, a tributary of the Amazon River, in the municipality of Codajas in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
They have been named as Francisco da Silva Rosa, Ana Maria Araujo, Janaina Lima Rosas and Ana Paula Lima Rosas respectively.
The sisters’ bodies were found first in one canoe and the parents’ bodies were then found in a second canoe.
They had not strayed far from the houseboat in which they had lived for almost 20 years, and the police believe they were killed by river pirates.
Local media including G1 reported that the victims were hacked to death with machetes, with injuries consistent with machete blows found all over their bodies.
G1 and other local media reported that three people, whose identities have not been divulged, have since been arrested in connection with the crime. No suspected motive has been revealed.
The local police say that a large number of so-called river pirates operate in the area and in the North Region of Brazil in general.
The river pirates often possess sophisticated speedboats and it is not uncommon for them to have greater firepower than even the police.
They frequently target oil tankers, cargo boats and fishermen.
The police are investigating the incident.
