Police say Adam and Emily Harteau and their daughters, 6-year-old Colette and 3-year-old Sierra, were passengers on a ferry from the Amazon gateway city of Belem to Macapa that was attacked by pirates on Sunday. Police say the pirates held the crew and passengers hostage for hours and there was no sign of the family after they left. The Harteaus were rescued Wednesday by a villager who spotted them floating on a piece of driftwood in the river. They were unharmed apart from scratches and insect bites.
It's not clear how the family escaped the pirates, though Emily Harteau's father said that he has seen a report that they jumped out of a boat with their surfboards and rode currents to safety. He adds that such an escape wouldn't surprise him because his son-in-law is a "build-a-fire-out-of-sticks kind of guy." The couple, who documented their travels on the "Our Open Road" blog, left California in 2012 intending to spend a year traveling South America in their Volkswagen van, but ended up making it a much longer journey.
Adam Harteau's brother said that the family was planning to move back to California later this month so the girls could grow up close to relatives and "have a little bit of foundation." (River pirates killed a British traveler in the same Amazon region in September.)
http://www.newser.com/story/250989/american-family-found-safe-after-river-pirate-attack.html
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the attack happened as the family was on its way to move back to California. They were set to arrive in Los Angeles on Nov. 15.
http://gazette.com/california-family-missing-in-brazilian-jungle-found-safe/article/feed/507181
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the Harteaus were in good condition and would spend the night in a hospital.
http://www.weau.com/content/news/Spokesman-US-family-missing-in-Brazil-is-found-454652863.html