The family of British adventurer Emma Kelty have paid tribute to their "active and determined sister" after she was killed while kayaking alone in the Brazilian Amazon.
The 43-year-old former headteacher's three siblings said she was "dearly loved by us all and her strength will be sorely missed", in a statement released by the Foreign Office.
The Londoner was last heard from on Wednesday September 13, days after posting about her fears of being robbed or murdered in a jungle area used for drug trafficking.
Local police said a teenager had been arrested and confessed to taking part in her killing.
Ms Kelty's brothers Piers and Giles and her sister Natasha said: "Emma was an active and determined sister who challenged herself, latterly through her adventures on the Pacific Coast Trail, as well as in the South Pole and Amazon River.
"In a world that is today a much smaller place, the explorer in our sister found herself seeking ways to prove that challenges were achievable.
"We are extremely proud of our sister who was dearly loved by us all and her strength will be sorely missed."
Ivo Martins, head of the Amazonas state homicide division, said that her body had not been found but a teenager had been arrested and confessed to taking part in her killing.
The former head teacher's last known location was around 150 miles west of the jungle city of Manaus, between the towns of Coari and Codajas.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are supporting the family of a British woman following her death in Brazil and are in contact with the Brazilian authorities."
Ms Kelty was 42 days into a 4,000-mile trip from the Amazon's source in Peru, through Brazil and to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean, using a GPS tool, social media and blogging to let friends follow her progress.
The previous day she had tweeted about passing boats full of men with arrows and rifles, and the stretch of river she was attempting to travel is a known route for bandits and drug traffickers, local reports say.
Some of her belongings, including the kayak, were found by the Brazilian navy on Friday, Mr Martins told local media.
Olie Hunter Smart, an explorer who completed a similar route in 2015, said Coari was known to be a dangerous area.
He had met Ms Kelty before her trip to help her plan the journey.
Mr Smart, who is currently walking the length of India, said: "The Emma that I met was an incredibly brave and courageous person who lived life to the full.
"My thoughts go out to her close friends and family at this very sad time."
In a posting before the journey, Ms Kelty wrote that the adventure had four parts, and the third was "getting through the notorious drug baron and organ harvesting folks".
The self-confessed adrenaline junkie had only begun serious kayaking earlier this year, weeks after skiing a return solo journey to the South Pole.
Last year police chief Thiago Garcez, whose body has never been found, was said to have been murdered by drug-runners in the area where Ms Kelty disappeared.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here