A Canadian man who was feared to be dead after disappearing five years ago was discovered as he wandered along a Brazilian highway, according to a report.
Anton Pilipa, 39, flew back to Toronto this week with his brother Stefan after being released from a hospital in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus, the CBC reported.
Stefan said his brother—an anti-poverty activist who had lived in Toronto, Montreal and British Columbia — had mental health problems when he went missing in 2012.
Anton got to Brazil at least part of the way by trudging, barefoot at times, as well as hitchhiking and hiding in the back of trucks.
“I found myself being really frustrated all the time [during those years], always having that aching question: ‘Where is he? What happened to him?’” Stefan said. “I feel amazed that he’s alive and had made it that far.”
In November, highway police picked up the disheveled itinerant man, who was not carrying any identification.
Brazilian-Canadian police officer Helenice Vidigal helped authorities locate the man’s family and return him to Canada.
“I knew he didn’t belong to that road. Anton is a different type from us Brazilians, he stands out,” she told CBC Toronto in a phone interview from the Brazilian state of Rondonia.
The stranger offered few details, she said, but did say he was from Canada.
“I thought, if he says he’s Canadian, I’m sure I can find his family,” said Vidigal, who took her search online and made a connection with Stefan via Twitter.
“I was really shocked … I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” said Stefan, who planned a trip to pick up his brother from a hospital and launched a drive to raise money for the journey.
But Anton managed to flee from the hospital and headed into the dangerous Amazonian jungle.
“That is the area where we talk about huge predators like crocodiles and jungle cats. We truly were afraid he could be eaten by one of those animals,” Vidigal said.
But Anton was soon found safe again and placed in a hospital in Manaus, where Stefan picked him up in late January.
“His health was starting to deteriorate,” he said. “We got him just in time.”
Anton told the BBC that he was happy to be found.
“I know that I am very lucky to be alive,” he said. “I am very happy to be able to return to my family.”
Stefan said the family has still not figured out exactly where Anton had been during all this time.
“I haven’t wanted to press him too much about it,” he said.
The happy ending was tempered by some legal matters that Anton faces in connection with assault and weapons charges from 2011.
After his return to Toronto Monday, Anton was arrested for the outstanding charges before being released pending future court dates.
Meanwhile, the family plans to “hold him close” and “help him have the life he deserves,” Stefan said.
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