Greek ambassador missing in Brazil: Officials

RIO DE JANIERO

Greece’s ambassador to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, went missing three days ago near Rio de Janeiro while vacationing with his family, officials said Dec. 29, asking for information that could help locate him.

“A case has been opened to investigate the ambassador’s disappearance,” Rio state police said in a statement, according to AFP. 

The investigation is being led by the missing persons section of the homicide division in the Rio neighborhood of Baixada Fluminense, on the city’s west side, it said.

Ambassador Amiridis, 59, was last seen on the evening of Dec. 26 leaving the home of friends of his Brazilian wife in a poor and violent suburb of Rio’s metropolitan area, police said on Dec. 29.

A Rio state police official said the ambassador’s wife reported him as missing on Dec. 28.

Brazilian police suspect a body discovered inside a charred vehicle in Rio de Janeiro is Amiridis, television channel Globo reported on Dec. 29, according to Reuters.

Globo showed images of the burned-out white car in the Nova Iguacu neighhorhood where the ambassador went missing. The station reported that the license plates on the car matched those of Amiridis’ rental vehicle. 

The Greek Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it had been informed by Amiridis’s family that “as of Monday... it has not been possible to contact him,” according to AFP.  

“The full mobilization of all the competent Brazilian authorities was requested,” it said.

“The ministry of foreign affairs and the Greek embassy in Brasilia are monitoring the case closely.” 
Amiridis previously served as Greece’s consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004. 

More recently he was Greece’s ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he took the top Brazil post at the beginning of 2016. 

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on the case, other than to say it was being fully pursued by police.