Wednesday, May 1, 2024
ADVT 
National

Vancouver Man, Missing For 5 Years, Found Wandering In Brazil After Walking Through 10 Countries

Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Feb, 2017 01:29 PM
    A Canadian man who has been missing for five years has been found more than 6,500 miles away in the Amazon jungle.
     
    Anton Pilipa trekked across two continents, walking mostly barefoot with just the clothes on his back, after he disappeared from his Vancouver home in 2012.
     
    His family spent years desperately searching for the former humanitarian worker, who suffers from suspected schizophrenia, and had almost given up hope when they got a call out of the blue.
     
    A Canadian-born Brazilian cop spotted Pilipa, who she initially mistook for a beggar, shuffling down a dirt track in bare feet, and dirty, unwashed Bermuda shorts and a vest. He had no passport and any form of identification.
     
    Incredibly, with help of several international agencies and embassies, she was able to track down his family who flew down to be reunited with their lost loved one.
     
    Anton, who has been placed back on his schizophrenia medication, traveled through at least ten countries from Canada, including the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil - all without a passport and with little more than the clothes in his back.
     
    His brother said he had one bizarre mission; to get to the National Library of Buenos Aires in Argentina. 
     
     
    Tragically, when he finally made it to the library, after walking thousands of miles, he was turned away because he didn't have any identification. So he turned around and began his trek into Brazil where he would eventually be found.  
     
     
    He described how he survived by picking fruits and berries, scrounging for food and clothes in the trash, and relied on the generosity of strangers. 
     
    But that's not to say times weren't tough. Anton started off with a small bag of belongings but was robbed of what little he did have on several occasions during his trek.
     
     
    While walking 800km alone through the dangerous Amazon jungle, filled with poisonous spiders, snakes, caiman - which can grow up to 20ft long and jaguar - all his toenails dropped off.
     
    Yet, while he met some 'bad people' on his incredible 10,000 mile journey, he said he had 'received more generosity, especially in recent times.' 
     
    'I've never felt alone,' he said. 'It's been a lot of thinking for years, sleeping in the open. It's very simple to live, we do not need many things.' 
     
    But after years on the road, Stefan said he was shocked by his brother's appearance.
     
    'He looked pretty rough,' he said after flying out to Manaus last month to collect his brother. 'The rigors of his journey took a toll on his body and face. And he had a lot more hair than last time I saw him.'
     
    The married dad said his brother's health was starting to deteriorate in the Brazilian mental institute where he was being held waiting for his family to collect him.
     
    'We got him just in time.'
     
    'I know that I am very lucky to be alive,' Anton told the BBC. 'I am very happy to be able to return to my family.'
     
    While Anton walked most of the 10,000 mile trip, he would occasionally get a ride or stowaway in a truck.
     
    But mostly, he kept himself to himself, barely speaking to another human being in five years. He still speaks almost no Spanish or Portuguese.  
     
    Anton, who was described as an individualist, was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years ago but his family say they struggled to find him the help he required in the two years before his disappearance.
     
    Before his illness, he had worked all over Canada for humanitarian relief organizations.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    A Look At The Refugee Process For People Walking Across The U.S. Border

    A Look At The Refugee Process For People Walking Across The U.S. Border
    WINNIPEG — People have been walking across the United States border to claim refugee status for years, but a Winnipeg immigration lawyer says he's not used to seeing them cross over in the bitter cold.

    A Look At The Refugee Process For People Walking Across The U.S. Border

    Trump's Anti-Immigrant Stance May Be Fuelling Rise In Racism In Canada: Experts

    Trump's Anti-Immigrant Stance May Be Fuelling Rise In Racism In Canada: Experts
    TORONTO — Canada has long prided itself on being a multicultural nation that values inclusion, opening its borders to refugees and immigrants, no matter their ethnicity or religion.

    Trump's Anti-Immigrant Stance May Be Fuelling Rise In Racism In Canada: Experts

    Minister's Husband Agrees To Psychiatric Assessment On Charges He Assaulted Her

    Minister's Husband Agrees To Psychiatric Assessment On Charges He Assaulted Her
    HALIFAX — The husband of Nova Scotia's immigration minister has been taken into custody at a psychiatric hospital on charges he assaulted, threatened and choked her on New Year's Eve.

    Minister's Husband Agrees To Psychiatric Assessment On Charges He Assaulted Her

    Woman Who Killed Two When She Backed Into A Costco Loses Conviction Appeal

    TORONTO — A woman who claimed her foot got caught in the pedals when she drove into a Costco storefront in London, Ont., and killed a child and her newborn sister lost her bid Wednesday to have her conviction quashed.

    Woman Who Killed Two When She Backed Into A Costco Loses Conviction Appeal

    Dutch Prosecutors Seek 11-Yr Sentence For Alleged Cyber Bully, Wanted In Canada

    In an emotional closing statement, prosecutor Annet Kramer urged judges at a court in Amsterdam to sentence the 38-year-old suspect, identified only as Aydin C., to 10 years and eight months in prison

    Dutch Prosecutors Seek 11-Yr Sentence For Alleged Cyber Bully, Wanted In Canada

    Bail Hearing Postponed For Melina Roberge, Quebecer Facing Drug Charge In Australia

    Bail Hearing Postponed For Melina Roberge, Quebecer Facing Drug Charge In Australia
    SYDNEY, Australia — A bail hearing has been postponed for one of three Quebecers accused of trying to import a large amount of cocaine into Australia last year.

    Bail Hearing Postponed For Melina Roberge, Quebecer Facing Drug Charge In Australia