The Brazilian media have been in turmoil for several days. All display on the front page the photo of Flávio de Castro Sousa, a renowned photographer in his country. This 36-year-old man disappeared on November 26 in Paris, while he was preparing to take a return flight to Brazil. A lover of the French capital, which he knows well, the Brazilian stayed there for several weeks, notably to immortalize a wedding. Early on November 26, the 30-year-old was transported to Georges-Pompidou hospital after falling into the Seine, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower.
He contacted his companion Alex, a Frenchman, to explain to him what had happened to him and to warn him that he was going to miss his plane. Then, the Brazilian went to the agency that had rented his apartment to him to extend his stay by one day. He sent Alex one last message around 7 p.m., and then nothing. Worried, the Frenchman went to the police station but “no one trusted him,” explains Rafael Basso, a relative of the missing man.
The man then contacted the rental agency, who told him that Flávio’s phone had been found on Wednesday morning (November 27) at the restaurant Les Ondes, on the banks of the Seine, where the Brazilian was fell the day before. The photographer therefore returned the next day to the scene of his fall.
On December 4, Interpol issued a disappearance notice concerning Flávio, writes “Le Parisien”. There is such an uproar in Brazil – both on social networks and in the media – that the French authorities have finally decided to roll up their sleeves and entrust the investigation to a team specializing in worrying disappearances.
For the moment, total vagueness reigns around this affair and no avenue has been ruled out. In Paris, Flavio’s relatives wait to be received by representatives of the Brazilian police in France. They hope to be able to discover crucial elements, in particular by exploring the contents of the missing person’s suitcases. “It’s crazy. We are doing everything to find Flávio. All the time, all the time, all the time, we think about Flávio, we want to find him,” Alex said in a story published on Sunday on Instagram.
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