Isolated Indigenous man makes brief contact with outside world, then returns to tribe in the Amazon rainforest

A young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe who approached a riverine community in Brazil’s Amazon returned voluntarily to his people less than 24 hours later, Brazilian authorities said.

A young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe who approached a riverine community in Brazil’s Amazon returned voluntarily to his people less than 24 hours later, Brazilian authorities said. The encounter occurred around 7 p.m. local time Wednesday in Bela Rosa, a community along the Purus River in the southwestern Amazon. Footage obtained by The Associated Press shows him barefoot and wearing a small loincloth, seemingly calm and in good health as he carried two logs. Locals believe the man was asking for fire. Smartphone video of the encounter showed one resident trying unsuccessfully to show the man how to use a lighter. Officials from Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency, Funai, arrived soon after and took him to a nearby facility. Funai said in a statement Friday that the young man returned to the forest on Thursday afternoon.