Body may belong to missing Australian Rye Hunt in Rio

A BODY with clothing similar to that worn by missing Australian Rye Hunt has been spotted by fishermen in the sea off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Missing Tasmanian man Rye Hunt. Picture: Facebook

A BODY with clothing similar to that worn by missing Australian Rye Hunt has been spotted by fishermen in the sea off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian police say.

The sighting on Wednesday morning, near the island of Rasa eight kilometres from Copacabana Beach, was reported to the Brazilian navy.

A search began on Wednesday afternoon and has continued through Friday, Rio’s Civil Police said.

Supplied image obtained Monday, May, 30, 2016 of missing Australian man Rye Hunt seen leaving Rio de Janeiro's Galeao International Airport. Picture: AAP

The 25-year-old Tasmanian has been missing since May 21, when he decided to cut his stay in Brazil short and travel to Bolivia from Rio’s international airport.

Police believe the backpacker argued with travelling buddy Mitchell Sheppard, with whom he had taken MDMA hours earlier, at the airport and returned to Copacabana and checked into an apartment.

He was said to be in a paranoid or psychotic state.

Until now, the last sighting had been by another fisherman on the uninhabited Cotunduba Island, one kilometre from Copacabana, where he had apparently swam, on the next day, May 22.

He is said to have been in an agitated state and to have begged for water to drink.

Hunt’s family declined to discuss the sighting of a body when they were asked about it at a press conference on Friday near Copacabana Beach.

His girlfriend of five years, Bonnie Cuthbert, 25, spoke of the last message he sent to her — apparently between taking the MDMA and arguing with Sheppard — before he disappeared.

Supplied image obtained Thursday, June 2, 2016 shows Australian man, Rye Hunt in Rio de Janeiro in a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) feed. Picture: AAP

“He sent me a message that morning (of May 21), saying he loved me, missed me and would message me when he got to Bolivia,” she said. “We are here to find Rye. To try and get as much information as we can.”

“We are apprehensive and nervous. But we are also hopeful and determined,” she said.

The electrician, who worked at a mine in Western Australia, had saved for three years to take the trip through South-East Asia, South America and Europe, she said.

Her boyfriend was “loving and a big bear”, she added. “But on the outside he’s this big tough man who can do anything.”

Rye Duval Hunt with Mitchell Shepherd. Picture: Supplied

The family declined to discuss details of the search for Hunt, but said that Sheppard, 22, was helping as much as he could and they were handing out leaflets at places in Rio known to Hunt. “The police are being amazing,” said Cuthbert.

The family also would not discuss the suggestion that he had taken MDMA.

But Cuthbert said: “He never used drugs. He is the biggest fitness freak you’ll ever meet.”

“We are optimistic and will remain that way,” added Hunt’s uncle Michael Wholohan, 50, of the search for his nephew. “We’ll stay here for as long as it takes.”