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Uncontacted Amazon tribe revealed

A photographer has captured incredible pictures of an indigenous tribe considered "uncontacted" by anthropologists.

Armed with spears, the tribe is shown looking up in apparent amazement as the photographer's plane passes overhead.

An uncontacted Amazon tribe is photographed from a plane flying overhead. Photo: REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
An uncontacted Amazon tribe is photographed from a plane flying overhead. Photo: REUTERS/Lunae Parracho

The Indian community is located in the Amazon basin near the Xinane river in Brazil's Acre State, near the border with Peru.

An uncontacted Amazon tribe is photographed from a plane flying overhead. Photo: REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
An uncontacted Amazon tribe is photographed from a plane flying overhead. Photo: REUTERS/Lunae Parracho

Leaders of the Ashaninka tribe, which shares territory with this tribe and other uncontacted ones, have asked the government and NGOs for help in controlling what they consider the encroachment of these tribes on their own area, stating that the movement of other tribes is caused by pressure from illegal logging across the border in Peru.

An uncontacted Amazon tribe is photographed from a plane flying overhead. Photo: REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
An uncontacted Amazon tribe is photographed from a plane flying overhead. Photo: REUTERS/Lunae Parracho

The images were captured by Reuters photographer Lunae Parracho, who has previously highlighted the plight of indigenous peoples in the Amazon.

Munduruku indigenous people point their bows and arrows at a police helicopter flying over the barrier of the Belo Monte Dam's construction site in northern Brazil.  15 JUN 2012. ALTAMIRA, BRAZIL. REUTERS/LUNAE PARRACHO
Munduruku indigenous people point their bows and arrows at a police helicopter flying over the barrier of the Belo Monte Dam's construction site in northern Brazil. 15 JUN 2012. ALTAMIRA, BRAZIL. REUTERS/LUNAE PARRACHO

"The clash of indigenous people with government and big business is obviously imbalanced and, for me, this photo shows not only this inequality but also that, despite the odds, the Indians are willing to resist," he said of this previously taken photo of people from a different indigenous tribe, the Munduruku (above).

"Shortly after this photo was taken, a number of Indians in this village were killed as the military moved in. No one from the press was there to document the attack, but I later sent this photo to one of the leaders of the village, who has become a good friend, and he told me he cried when he saw it."

Parracho says a number of huge infrastructure projects are threatening the traditional indigenous way of life in the Amazon rainforest.

Earlier this week NGO Survival International reported that Brazilian state oil company Petrobras had started exploring for oil and gas in one of the most isolated parts of the Amazon, endangering several isolated Indian tribes.

Although Brazil’s constitution stipulates that indigenous people must be consulted about all projects that will affect their land, Petrobras has failed to consult the indigenous peoples in the area, the organisation claimed.

When asked about Petrobras’s recent exploration in the Tapauá River basin, Brazil’s National Oil Agency stated that "no exploration for oil and gas has been called for, or authorized, by this agency in that region."