Man Filming Rain Forest Vanishes

No trace has been found of a leading British environmentalist who vanished last week in a remote Madagascar jungle carrying no food and only a small supply of water.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth said Andrew Lees, 46, campaign director of the group, had been filming the rain forests on the island 240 miles off east Africa when he vanished Saturday.

The organization would not comment Thursday on a report in The Times newspaper that Lees was on an undercover investigation of deforestation on the island, a rich resource of rare and exotic flora and fauna.

Lees was traveling Saturday with a driver into a remote area he had filmed previously. After telling the driver he would return in an hour, Lees walked into the forest alone.

The driver reportedly waited five hours before alerting local tribespeople and beginning a search.