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Anton Pilipa (L) has been reunited with his brother, Stefan. Stefan Pilipa

Missing Canadian man found near Amazon jungle after 5 years reunited with family

Anton Pilipa had been missing for five years.

A 39-YEAR-OLD Canadian man who disappeared in 2012 has been found safe and sound near the Amazon jungle in Brazil.

Anton Pilipa was found on a motorway near the city of Manaus in November, and has now returned home to his family in Toronto.

Pilipa, who is described by his brother as having suffered through a “prolonged struggle with mental health illness”, made it home after a GoFundMe campaign raised enough money to get him home.

He was found by Brazilian highway police but Pilipa could not speak Portuguese and the authorities had trouble identifying who he was.

Helenice Vidigal, a Canadian-born Brazilian officer, overheard Pilipa speaking and managed to get the ball rolling to track down his family.

She outlined in a Facebook post how she managed to track down who Pilipa was, and how he made it home.

15826798_1225854914116905_2639074990399859388_n Pilipa, when he was found by police. Brazilian Federal Highway Police Brazilian Federal Highway Police

She began by posting a picture of Pilipa on Facebook and contacted the Canadian embassy in Brazil.

Since he hadn’t committed a crime, Pilipa was released by police and sent to hospital. He then ran away from that hospital on 8 December and wasn’t found again until 3 January, when police tracked him down on the edge of the jungle.

In the meantime, Pilipa had been identified and his brother, Stefan, had been contacted in Toronto.

A GoFundMe page was set up to try and get Pilipa home and managed to exceed its goal of $8,000 and raised $12,849.

The family have no idea how Pilipa made it to Brazil, but are delighted he has been found safe and sound after being missing for almost half a decade.

Stefan Pilipa told CBC Toronto: “I feel amazed that he’s alive and had made it that far… When someone disappears you suddenly realise there isn’t a lot you can do. We hit a wall.”

Now he’s back home in Toronto, the family plan to simply “hold him close”, according to Stefan. They will get Pilipa a “place to live and some treatment” to “help him have the life he deserves”.

Read: Cave where priceless Dead Sea Scrolls were kept discovered in Judean desert

Read: Wikipedia bans Daily Mail links as references

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23 Comments
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    Mute Larry David the 2nd
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    Jul 4th 2015, 5:41 PM

    Ok advertising works cos I am getting me one of those babies ASAP.

    432
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    Mute Red Marauder
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    Jul 4th 2015, 5:52 PM

    This must have every peeping Tom drooling!

    221
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    Mute dstaffx
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    Jul 4th 2015, 6:20 PM

    Can it see through curtains?

    123
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    Mute David Carino
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    Jul 4th 2015, 7:12 PM

    only shower curtains

    68
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    Mute Oliver
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    Jul 4th 2015, 5:43 PM

    I want it…

    108
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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jul 4th 2015, 8:10 PM

    I went and checked and for some strange reason there is a shortage. Berminghams say 6 weeks wait and camera.ie have 10 on backorder and you have to pay full price €650 up front. Oh well.

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    Mute cosmological
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    Jul 4th 2015, 5:48 PM

    Excellent, thank you Journal.

    94
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    Mute CW
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    Jul 4th 2015, 5:47 PM

    That’s crazy stuff, holy mother of Devine Julie’s Caesar’s àrses bloody banana….

    Must get me one of them.

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    Mute Pee Shank
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    Jul 4th 2015, 7:20 PM

    amazing

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    Mute Tap Solny
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    Jul 4th 2015, 5:58 PM

    A Nikon D3200 or a Sony A58 would cost €450 including a 18-55mm kit lens. Either camera is far superior to the Nikon Coolpix p900. The D3200 is a DSLR, the the A58 is an SLT and the Coolpix is a bridge camera. The Coolpix is quite good up to 83x but it cannot be compared to a DSLR.

    32
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    Mute Pee Shank
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    Jul 4th 2015, 6:07 PM

    Wow

    1
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    Mute Joseph Siddall
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    Jul 4th 2015, 6:18 PM

    Tap, all very true but “Bridge” cameras sell very well for a reason. Most people see them them as being a very acceptable compromise answering all their needs in one piece of reasonably priced kit. Modern bridge cameras are really quite superb…within their operational parameters.

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    Mute Tap Solny
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    Jul 4th 2015, 6:32 PM

    Agreed Joseph. I have the Nikon Coolpix P900 and a Sony HX400v – both are superb bridge cameras. I also have a Sony A58 and a Sony A77ii – both are excellent DSLRs (SLTs).

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    Mute Maximus
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    Jul 4th 2015, 7:50 PM

    Very impressive, WoW!.

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    Mute Paul Mc Nulty
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    Jul 4th 2015, 8:28 PM

    Tony and Joseph comparing their cox…

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    Mute Gemma Shah
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    Jul 4th 2015, 9:31 PM

    My Uncle visited last week toting one of these. Totally in awe. Well worth the money I reckon.

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    Mute Kemberlee Shortland
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    Jul 5th 2015, 1:45 AM

    My Canon Powershot SX60 does the same shot of the moon, if not better.

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    Mute Eoin
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    Jul 5th 2015, 12:41 AM

    Paparazzi wet dream.

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    Mute Ger Clifford
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    Jul 5th 2015, 12:05 AM

    So does my Canon 18x zoom SX600hs.

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    Mute Una Simms
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    Jul 5th 2015, 12:48 PM

    eh..I dunno…..I’d like the zoom to go a little closer….. This just doesn’t try hard enough…….. (awesome actually)

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    Mute cp
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    Jul 5th 2015, 10:35 AM

    Now that’s impressive! Definitely putting that on my wish list!!

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