I was there. I saw what I saw. That's not what occurred.
Ao largo de Ilhabela, no litoral paulista, o mar devolveu após nove dias o corpo de Dheorge, homem que desapareceu quando um jet ski com falha mecânica afundou e o deixou à deriva. Sua companheira naquele dia, a técnica de enfermagem Bruna Damaris, foi encontrada viva por pescadores após mais de 40 horas no oceano, a 16 quilômetros da costa. O episódio lembra, com crueldade silenciosa, como a fronteira entre o lazer e o perigo pode ser atravessada em instantes — e como o mar guarda seus segredos até decidir revelá-los.
- Um jet ski começou a alagar em alto mar, forçando dois ocupantes a abandonar o veículo em meio a uma correnteza que os puxava para longe da costa.
- Enquanto Bruna Damaris era resgatada por pescadores após 40 horas à deriva, Dheorge permanecia desaparecido, mobilizando a Marinha e a polícia marítima em uma busca de nove dias.
- Rumores e especulações nas redes sociais levaram Damaris a emitir uma nota pública afirmando que seu companheiro usava colete salva-vidas até o último momento em que estiveram juntos.
- O corpo foi localizado na segunda-feira e o Instituto Médico Legal confirmou morte por afogamento, encerrando a busca mas abrindo uma investigação criminal e administrativa.
- A Marinha do Brasil e a Polícia Civil de São Paulo investigam em paralelo a falha mecânica do jet ski e se o operador possuía habilitação e documentação regulares.
Nove dias depois do acidente, as buscas nas águas de Ilhabela chegaram ao fim na segunda-feira com a recuperação do corpo de Dheorge. O Instituto Médico Legal de Caraguatatuba confirmou que ele morreu afogado. A operação havia mobilizado equipes da Marinha e da polícia marítima, orientadas em parte pelo achado de um colete salva-vidas encontrado no mar.
A companheira de Dheorge naquele dia era Bruna Damaris, técnica de enfermagem de 26 anos. Ela sobreviveu: pescadores a encontraram viva a cerca de 16 quilômetros da costa, após mais de 40 horas à deriva. Em nota divulgada nas redes sociais, ela descreveu o momento em que o jet ski começou a alagar, tornando impossível permanecer a bordo. Uma forte correnteza os afastava da terra. Os dois entraram na água.
Damaris foi direta ao rebater especulações que circulavam online: ela não viu o companheiro retirar o colete. Afirmou que permaneceram juntos até a madrugada de terça-feira e que ele usava o equipamento de segurança o tempo todo. Esclareceu ainda que Dheorge era um colega que havia conhecido no barco, não um amigo próximo, e declarou ter fornecido todas as informações relevantes à polícia e à imprensa.
O jet ski foi localizado também na segunda-feira e encaminhado para perícia. O delegado Caio Nunes de Miranda apontou falha mecânica seguida de afundamento como hipótese principal. A Marinha abriu inquérito administrativo para apurar as causas do acidente e eventuais responsabilidades, incluindo se o operador tinha habilitação e se a documentação da embarcação estava em ordem. A Polícia Civil de São Paulo conduz investigação paralela, buscando determinar se negligência ou irregularidades contribuíram para a tragédia.
Nine days of searching the waters off Ilhabela ended on Monday when authorities recovered the body of a man who had gone missing after a jet ski accident. The Medical Legal Institute in Caraguatatuba confirmed he died by drowning. The operation had mobilized teams from Brazil's Navy and the maritime police across the region, guided in part by the discovery of a life jacket that had been in the water.
The man's companion that day was Bruna Damaris, a 26-year-old nursing assistant, who survived the ordeal. Fishermen found her alive roughly 16 kilometers from shore after she had spent more than 40 hours adrift in the ocean. In a statement posted to social media, she described what happened in the moments before the jet ski went down. The two had been riding when water began seeping into the vessel, making it impossible to stay aboard. A strong current was pulling them farther from land. They abandoned the jet ski and entered the water.
Damaris was clear about one detail that had apparently become a subject of speculation: she did not see her companion remove his life jacket. She emphasized that they remained together until early Tuesday morning, and that he was wearing his safety equipment the entire time. She also clarified that Dheorge—the man who died—was a colleague she had met on the boat, not someone she knew well beforehand. In her statement, she pushed back against rumors and false information circulating online, saying she had already provided all relevant details to police and the press and had nothing further to add.
The recovery of the body marked the conclusion of an intensive search, but it opened a new phase of investigation. Brazil's Navy has launched an administrative inquiry into the accident, examining the circumstances, the underlying causes, and any parties who might bear responsibility. Part of that investigation will focus on whether the jet ski's operator held proper licensing and whether the vessel's documentation was in order.
The jet ski itself was located on Monday and sent for forensic examination. According to Caio Nunes de Miranda, the delegado—or chief investigator—in Ilhabela, the leading theory is that the jet ski experienced a mechanical failure and sank. The São Paulo Civil Police are also investigating the incident in parallel with the Navy's inquiry. Both agencies are working to determine exactly what went wrong with the machine and whether any negligence or regulatory violations contributed to the accident that claimed one life and left another person fighting for survival in open water.
Citações Notáveis
We stayed together the whole time until early Tuesday morning. My colleague did not remove his life jacket and I did not see him sinking.— Bruna Damaris, in a statement on Instagram
The main hypothesis is that the jet ski experienced a mechanical failure and sank.— Caio Nunes de Miranda, chief investigator in Ilhabela
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that Bruna was so specific about not seeing him remove the life jacket?
Because people were already telling a story about what happened—that he took it off, that he panicked. She was correcting the record. She was saying: I was there, I saw what I saw, and that's not what occurred.
But if he was wearing the life jacket, why did he drown?
That's the question the Navy and police are trying to answer now. A life jacket keeps you afloat, but it doesn't save you if the current is too strong, if you're exhausted, if you're in the water for too long. Or if something else happened we don't yet know.
What was their relationship?
Colleagues. She was careful to say that. Not friends, not close. They happened to be on the same boat that day. That detail matters because it shapes how we understand what she witnessed—she was observing, not intimate with him.
The jet ski sank. Does that explain everything?
It explains why they had to get in the water. But it doesn't explain why he didn't survive it. That's what the investigation is really about—not just the machine, but the whole chain of events.
And she made it through 40 hours alone in the ocean.
Yes. Fishermen found her. She had the life jacket. She had luck, or endurance, or both. He didn't have the same outcome.