Man lost for five years walks 16,093km

Survived by begging and foraging for food

ACanadian man who vanished five years ago has been found thousands of kilometres away in the heart of the Amazon after apparently walking much of the way there. Anton Pilipa, 39, who was last seen by his family in 2012, was discovered wandering barefoot with no passport or identification documents near Manaus, capital of Brazil’s jungle state of Amazonas.

His brother, Stefan, said he had mental health problems and had begun treatment for schizophrenia before disappearing. He had apparently walked, hitchhiked, and hidden in lorries, surviving by begging and foraging for food, and sleeping in the open. “I feel amazed that he’s alive and had made it that far,” Pilipa told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “I found myself being really frustrated all the time, always having that aching question, ‘Where is he? What happened to him?’”

The trip appeared to have taken Pilipa more than 16,093km starting in Vancouver, where he was living. After crossing the US he would have travelled across 10 other borders.