Lenildo Frazão: Journalist makes grim discovery in river while reporting a young girl’s disappearance

A Brazilian journalist has made a grim discovery while reporting on a missing schoolgirl who was last seen swimming in the Mearim River in Bacabal, northeastern Brazil.

Lenildo Frazão was reporting from chest deep in the river while a news segment was filmed, illustrating the depth of the river where the 13-year-old was last seen, swimming with her friends.

“The water is already above my chest, so you can see the situation there. If I walk a little here, let me see, I’m going to walk a bit more, here it’s deep” Frazão confirmed in Spanish as he waded through the water.

Chillingly, as he takes a step deeper he immediately springs back in panic, rushing out of the river, holding his microphone above the water’s surface.

“I found something at the bottom of the water . . . it wasn’t soft” he said.

Frazão wasn’t exactly sure what he’d felt, but he feared the worst and refused to continue the report.

“No, I’m not going, I’m scared. It felt like an arm, could it be her? But it might be a fish too, I don’t know.”

Following the reporter’s eerie experience, divers and firefighters resumed the search for the missing girl on the morning of June 30. Sadly, they soon located the schoolgirl’s body, close to where Frazão had been filming.

The 13-year-old girl, who was only known as Raíssa, drowned while swimming in the river with some friends. Frazão had emphasised the river’s hazardous risks during the start of his report, emphasising its powerful currents and irregular depth created by holes in the riverbed.

Accidental drowning was confirmed as the cause of death after a post-mortem examination revealed no evidence of trauma. Raíssa was buried on June 30 according to The Sun.