Teacher killed on Amazon trip joked at risks
A British head teacher killed by pirates while kayaking down the Amazon had predicted her death days before, in a social media post as she entered a dangerous stretch of the river. The Foreign Office confirmed that Emma Kelty, 43, had died and a 17-yearold boy had been arrested.
By Robert Mendick CHIEF REPORTER
and Mark Beresford in Rio de Janeiro
A BRITISH head teacher on a “bucket list” adventure in the Amazon predicted her own death just days before being murdered by armed pirates.
The Foreign Office confirmed last night that Emma Kelty, 43, who gave up her job as a head teacher to become a full-time explorer, died while on a solo 4,000-mile trip on the Amazon.
Brazilian police said Miss Kelty was shot and killed by robbers, known locally as water rats, who then dumped her body in the river.
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder and police are hunting six others. He is alleged to have told police that Ms Kelty, 43, was shot twice with a sawn-off shotgun.
A police spokesman said: “We believe she was shot and killed while she was camping on an island near the village of Lauro Sodré.” The boy and other robbers tried to sell her possessions including a phone, tablet computer and camcorder.
The search for Ms Kelty was launched a week ago after she triggered a distress signal in a remote area of Brazil between the towns of Coari and Codajas. Her kayak was discovered on a beach with some of her belongings.
Three days before she disappeared, Miss Kelty wrote on Facebook on Sept 10: “So, in or near Coari (100km away). I will have my boat stolen and I will be killed too. Nice.”
The area is a notorious drug-trafficking route. The day before she vanished, she described a dramatic encounter with gun-toting pirates.
“Turned corner and found 50 guys in motor boats with arrows,” she posted, “My face must have been a picture. Town was uber quiet … too quiet!”
She then added: “Ok 30 guys…but either way … that’s a lot of folks in one area in boats with arrow and rifles.”
According to local reports there have been several attacks in the area by drug gangs and pirates, including one on a police chief who confronted them.
In a statement the Foreign Office said last night: “We are supporting the family of a British woman following her death in Brazil and are in direct contact with the Brazilian authorities.”
Ms Kelty had been the head at London schools in Hackney and Surbiton but decided to pursue a “bucket list” of adventures in 2015 after the death of her father, who lived in Somerset.
“Life is too short,” Ms Kelty wrote following his death. Three months later, she posted: “OK, time to start on the bucket list!”
Ms Kelty embarked on a 2,500- mile solo hike in May 2015 which took her from the bottom to the top of North America.
In January this year, she became only the sixth solo woman to make it to the South Pole.