Missing woman found adrift in boat with husband's body 100 miles from home

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A husband and wife set off for a fishing trip that ended in tragedy (Image: Jam Press)
A husband and wife set off for a fishing trip that ended in tragedy (Image: Jam Press)

A missing fisherwoman spent a week adrift with her husband's corpse after he died of an alleged heart attack.

Maria das Graças Mota Bernardo and José Nilson de Souza Bernardo, both 68, set off as usual on a fishing trip on 28 March.

The elderly couple had intended to return home a few days later with their haul.

The planned trip was due to take them down an Amazonia river called Rio Negro, in the north west of Brazil, and they took two boats with them - a fishing boat and a smaller canoe for exploring flooded forests.

When the couple didn’t return home on time, loved ones began to grow worried and eventually alerted the authorities after they found their canoe tied to a tree.

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Inside it, there was rotting fish and a net was still stretched out in the water.

Missing woman found adrift in boat with husband's body 100 miles from homeThe widow was eventually found around 100 miles from where they set off (Jam Press)
Missing woman found adrift in boat with husband's body 100 miles from homeMaria das Graças Mota Bernardo was found with the body of José Nilson de Souza Bernardo in their fishing boat (Jam Press)

Police, fire services, and Navy launched an extensive search and rescue operation and around a week after they set off, they found the couple’s vessel adrift in Iranduba, about 100 miles from where they left.

After her husband was said to have suffered a heart attack when fishing, Maria was forced to spend several days with the body.

She was taken away from the scene by a Navy helicopter as they confirmed an investigation is underway into the incident.

Authorities are due to carry out an autopsy on the body to establish his exact cause of death.

Lee Bullen

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