The group – thought to be the world’s biggest isolated tribe – fatally attacked the workers with arrows, leaving two lumberjacks dead and another two people missing
Two people have died and another two are missing after encountering an “uncontacted” indigenous tribe in Peru’s Amazon rainforest.
The fatal clash between the lumberjacks and the Mashco Piro people, broke out on Thursday in an area of the Madre de Dios region as workers began opening a trail in the forest. The group – thought to be the world’s biggest isolated tribe – fatally attacked the workers with arrows, leaving two dead and another two missing.
The Ministry of Culture said it was investigating the incident along with the prosecutor’s office and police. In a statement, the ministry said the attack “may have caused deaths, injuries and disappearances” on behalf of a logging company.
Pioneering indigenous organisation FENAMAD said in a statement on Monday that the clash broke out in the tribes territory, in an area close to the Pariamanu River. At least two workers were killed by arrows, one person is injured and another two have disappeared.
The Mashco Piro people have long avoided contact with the outside world, but have been spotted outside their territory in recent months – and are reportedly under huge pressure from the logging industry, NGO Survival International reports.
Between 2015 and 2022, clashes with the Mascho Piro, have resulted in at least four people, including workers and residents of the area, dying, the Ministry of Culture reports.
A number of logging companies hold timber concessions inside the area inhabited by the Mashco Piro tribe. One company certified by the Forest Stewardship Council has built more than 120 miles of roads for its trucks to extract timber, according to Survival International.
The company, called ‘Canales Tahuamanu’ reportedly has 130,000 acres of forests in Madre de Dios to extract cedar and mahogany.
The Mashco Piro tribe have been spotted across the border in Brazil, says Rosa Padilha, at the Brazilian Catholic bishops’ Indigenous Missionary Council. She said: “They flee from loggers on the Peruvian side. At this time of the year they appear on the beaches to take Amazon turtle eggs. That’s when we find their footprints on the sand. They leave behind a lot of turtle shells.”
“They are a people with no peace, restless, because they are always on the run.”