Featured Image Credit: Charlotte Peet
Topics: Travel, News, World News
Anish Vij
The father of a British journalist who has been missing in Brazil for over two weeks has expressed how unlike her it was to travel there without telling anyone.
Charlotte Alice Peet, 32, is a freelance news correspondent who would regularly keep in contact with her loved ones in London.
However, her sudden lack of communication has lead to the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP) in Sao Paulo looking for her whereabouts.
Peet - who worked for Al Jazeera, The Times and The Evening Standard - was last seen in Sao Paulo on 8 February.
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She had boarded a bus at Tiete Bus Station, which was heading for Rio de Janeiro.
“I wouldn't say that it was normal, there was something on her mind obviously otherwise she would have let us know,” her dad Derek told Sky News.
Peet previously worked in Brazil two years ago before returning back home to London and heading back out there in November.
The journalist didn't tell her parents that she was heading to Sao Paulo.
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Reports suggest that she WhatsApp messaged a friend in Rio de Janeiro, asking if they were able to host her, but they were not.
Derek added: "It's very worrying but I don't have any more to say, I'm very concerned but I just don't know what's going on, we're just trying to pick up the pieces really.
"She was then traced to Gatwick Airport and was found to have boarded a plane to São Paulo and then the trail went cold."
One of her friends, who has been named as Alexandra Pereira, told Brazilian media: "I pray she is just disconnected, but it is strange. We have tried calling, and sending messages, and nothing is read.
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"On LinkedIn, she appears online and her phone is on. I hope they find her as soon as possible."
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in Brazil (ACIE) said it felt ‘concern over her disappearance and solidarity with her family and friends’.
President Edmar Figueiredo added: “Her disappearance has sparked growing concern among colleagues and journalists in the region, with ACIE calling for intensified efforts to locate her as soon as possible.”
Sao Paulo’s public security office also told LADbible: "The case is investigated by the 5th Missing Persons Police Station of the DHPP, which carries out efforts to locate the missing person and clarify the facts."
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) added: “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.”
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LADbible Group has contacted the Secretariat of Public Security for comment.