Adventurer Emma Kelty disappears after sending distress signal on solo kayaking trip along drug route through Amazon

A London headteacher who went missing while kayaking alone in the Amazon had written of her fears of being robbed or killed days before.

Emma Kelty, 43, disappeared after sending a distress signal from a position 150 miles west of the Brazilian jungle city of Manaus, in a remote area known as a drug-trafficking route and for pirate attacks.

Ms Kelty, of Finchley, was trying to paddle from the source of the Amazon in Peru, through Brazil, to its mouth at the Atlantic.

The experienced adventurer was 42 days into a 4,000-mile trip when she vanished last Wednesday.

Ms Kelty had been documenting her journey on her blog and social media and using a GPS tracker so friends and family could follow her.

Her kayak and some of her belongings, including clothes and food, were found on a sandbank close to riverside Lauro Sodre, between the remote towns of Coari and Codajas.

Ms Kelty wrote of the danger in a Facebook post on September 10: “So in or near Coari (100km away) I will have my boat stolen and I will be killed too. Nice.” Two days later, after travelling past the town, she posted: “Am in the clear. All OK”.

However, authorities said she was entering the most lawless stretch of the river when she went missing.

In the past year there have been many attacks by drugs gangs and pirates, including one incident when a local police chief disappeared after a confrontation with armed gangsters.

It is believed Ms Kelty had stopped to pitch her tent beside the river on Wednesday night when she triggered an emergency locator which informed her team back in the UK that she was in trouble.

Since then, 60 Brazilian Navy personnel have been searching for her, using a helicopter, two boats and three divers. A team from the special homicide and kidnap squad also arrived in the area to investigate local reports that she could have been attacked by pirates who regularly target boats passing through.

Police chief Ivo Martins, who is leading the investigation, said: “It is a trafficking route, but we’re not necessarily linking the case with drugs trafficking. It’s possible that she might have been snatched.

“It’s possible that she might have got lost too. We always believe that she might be well, alive, and we will work to find her.”

Ms Kelty, whose family are believed to live in Taunton, Somerset, had been working at the Knollmead Primary School in Surbiton but quit to go travelling.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “She was headteacher here. It is very sad to hear what has happened. We wish her well.”

Ms Kelty became the sixth woman to ski unassisted to the South Pole in January this year, and has also completed a 2,600-mile solo hike across the US among other challenges.

Blogger William Nascimento, from the town of Coari, said that many local people reported seeing Ms Kelty rowing along the river in her fluorescent safety vest, and that he believed she had been kidnapped.

He said: “Everybody is afraid of travelling through that stretch because of the pirate attacks. They are ruthless and bloodthirsty.

“It is crazy that this woman decided to row along the river on her own, even stopping to pitch her tent. No one who knows this part of the river and the pirates would even think about doing that.”

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are supporting the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in Brazil, and are in contact with the Brazilian navy.”

A former neighbour in Finchley said: “She is a lovely woman and a very private person. She moved away two years ago when she sold the flat.

“I don’t know if she had a partner because she kept to herself but she was a teacher for a while. I know she likes adventure and was very active when she lived here. She is very fit.

“I was devastated when I found out what happened and I hope the police over there find her safely.”