Amazon search for UK campaigner

Emily Craddock is thought to have fallen from the Arctic Sunrise

Rescuers are searching for a Greenpeace activist who is thought to have fallen overboard from a boat in the Amazon rainforest.

Emily Craddock, 27, was in Brazil as part of the environmental group's campaign against illegal logging.

The crew on the Arctic Sunrise ship last saw Ms Craddock on Saturday, as they sailed on the Xingu River, 1,500 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

They discovered the Londoner was missing several hours later and turned the boat around to retrace its course.

Radio operator

Greenpeace said it was still hopeful of finding Ms Craddock, who was part of a team that had faced threats from loggers.

A spokeswoman said: "We don't know what happened yet, but at this moment, we don't state any suspicion that her disappearance could have anything to do with the anti-logging campaign."

The search for the radio operator has been joined by a helicopter, Cessna plane and three inflatable boats.

The Arctic Sunrise had been sailing from Porto de Moz in the northern state capital of Para, to the state capital Belem.

Local people and the port authority in Belem were also helping the search.

The British Foreign Office confirmed it was in contact with Ms Craddock's family.

Anonymous threats

The Loughborough University graduate was one of several Britons on the boat.

Greenpeace said the crew had faced threats from loggers since late October, when it began investigating illegal deforestation.

In November loggers tried to block the Arctic Sunrise from entering the Xingu River, where most of the illegal logging takes place.

There had also been anonymous threats that the ship would be attacked and burned.

Ms Craddock, from Primrose Hill in north-west London, has worked for Greenpeace for four years.

While in the UK she worked as a nursery school teacher.