The Brazilian Marine said yesterday that it has given up efforts to search
for a soldier that went missing during a mission in Antarctica a week ago.
Melo Olegario, a 42-year-old serviceman, has been missing since March 15 when
he was on the ocean graphic vessel Ary Rongel to the island Rey Jorge, which
hosts the Brazilian antarctic station Comandante Ferraz.
"All available means have been used in the region" such as rescue boats, one
helicopter of the Brazilian Army and eight others of the Chilean Army, the
Brazilian Marine said in a statement.
But all efforts were in vain and Olegario's body could not be located till
now, the statement said.
According to official sources, Olegario was a member of the security squad of
the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, when the president visited
the Brazilian base in Antarctica recently.
