Photographer: photos of lost Amazon tribe are fakes

BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The photographer who peddled photos of a lost Amazon tribe to news outlets worldwide has admitted they were part of a hoax intended to call attention to dangers posed by Brazil's logging industry.

The photos, one of which showed tribesmen aiming at an aircraft with their bows and arrows, were purportedly of warriors of a lost tribe near the Brazilian-Peruvian border.

But, as photographer Jose Carlos Meirelles recently explained, authorities have known about this particular tribe since 1910. Meirelles and the agency that released the photos wanted to make it appear they were member of a lost tribe in order to publicize the dangers the logging industry may have on the tribe.

(Agencies)