British journalist Charlotte Peet missing for 10 days in Brazil

A British journalist has gone missing in Brazil, with ‘worried’ colleagues there urging the authorities to ramp up their search efforts ‘as soon as possible’.

Charlotte Peet, 32, was reported missing this week by a friend who she messaged on February 8 to say she was in Sao Paolo but was heading to Rio de Janeiro and was looking for somewhere to stay.

The Rio-based friend told Charlotte she was unable to help and said she became concerned after she failed to respond to her follow-up messages and her family made unsuccessful attempts to reach her.

Although the missing person’s report was originally lodged in Rio de Janeiro it has been passed on to police in Sao Paulo.

Regional officials said in a statement: ‘The case is being investigated by the 5th Missing Persons Division of the State Department of Homicides and Personal Protection (DHPP).’

Freelance reporter Charlotte describes herself online as being ‘fluent in Portuguese’ with nine years of experience in journalism.

She says on LinkedIn she has worked for Al Jazeera, the Times and the Evening Standard among others as well as appearing on the BBC World Service.

Lonely Planet has described her as a member of its team of travel experts.

The unnamed friend who reported Charlotte missing told police she met her two years ago when she moved to the South American country to live and work.

The British journalist is understood to have returned to London briefly before returning to Brazil last November. The pair subsequently met up in Rio.

The Brazilian Foreign Press Association called on police to step up their search for missing Charlotte Peet late yesterday.

It admitted in a statement to being ‘worried’ about her disappearance.

Association president Edmar Figueiredo, an experienced Brazilian TV journalist, said in the statement he signed: ‘The Brazilian Foreign Press Association (ACIE) would like to publicly express its concern about the disappearance of 32-year-old British journalist Charlotte Alice Peet and show solidarity with her family and friends.

‘She disappeared in Brazil 10 days ago.

‘The case was initially registered at Rio de Janeiro’s Tourist Attention Centre on February 17 before being passed on to Sao Paulo which is the last place Charlotte was supposed to have been before she disappeared.’

He added: ‘Charlotte spent more than two years in Rio de Janeiro where she worked as a freelance correspondent.

‘After heading back to London, she returned to Brazil last November. On February 8, she contacted a female friend in Rio via WhatsApp.

‘She said she was in São Paulo and was planning to head to Rio and needed a place to stay. The friend replied saying that unfortunately she couldn’t put her up.

‘Several days later Charlotte’s family in the UK contacted this friend saying they had lost contact with her.

‘To help in the ongoing search for Charlotte, they have provided information about her flight to Brazil as well as a passport photo.

‘As a freelance journalist Charlotte knew some of the foreign correspondents who are members of the Brazilian Foreign Press Association.

‘She reported from Brazil for foreign media, including Al Jazeera and British and even Portuguese media outlets.

‘The ACIE and its leadership calls on the relevant authorities to intensify their work to try to find the missing British journalist as soon as possible.’

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘We are supporting the family of a British woman who has been reported as missing in Brazil and are in contact with the local authorities.’

Charlotte studied philosophy at the University of Bristol before doing a masters degree in international journalism at City St George’s, University of London.

Her LinkedIn page says she worked as a reporter for the Rio Times for seven months in 2020 before becoming a foreign desk intern at The Times.

She went to work as a freelance journalist for more than five years in Brazil and London before starting to work in March last year as an editorial team lead for data generation platform Mindrift.

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