An American missionary was killed by arrows shot by protected tribesmen living in one of the world’s most isolated regions in India’s Andaman islands – but they can’t be prosecuted.
John Allen Chau, 27, had taken a boat ride with local fishermen before venturing alone in a canoe to the remote North Sentinel Island where the indigenous people live cut off completely from the outside world.
As soon as he set foot on the island, Chau found himself facing a flurry of arrows, official sources said.
The North Sentinel Island, which is off-limits to visitors, is home to the Sentinelese, who killed Chau, officials said.
But contact with several tribes on the islands, set deep in the Indian Ocean, is illegal in a bid to protect their indigenous way of life and shield them from diseases.
An American tourist was killed by arrows shot by protected tribesmen living on North Sentinel Island (pictured, file photo)
Police have registered a case of murder and seven accused persons have been arrested.
Their names have not been released, but they are the fishermen who took Chau to the island.
One police source said Chau, who had made previous visits to the islands, had a strong desire to meet the Sentinelese.
Chau was a Christian missionary who wanted to interact with members of the Sentinelese tribe, according to International Christian Concern.
The Sentinelese attracted international attention in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, when a member of the tribe was photographed on a beach, firing arrows at a helicopter (pictured)
Chau had made several trips to the Andaman islands recently before finally managing to make it to the remote stretch by offering money to local fishermen.
Chau hired a fishing dinghy and, aided by the fishermen, reached the vicinity of the island on November 16, before transferring to a canoe, the official said.
His body, spotted the following day by the fishermen on their return, has not yet been retrieved, the official added.
Police have launched an investigation, Deepak Yadav, a police official in the island chain in the Bay of Bengal, said in a statement late on Tuesday.
‘He tried to reach the Sentinel island on November 14 but could not make it,’ police sources said.
The Sentinelese tribe are an indigenous tribe who live on North Sentinal Island, one of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean
‘Two days later he went well prepared. He left the dingy midway and took a canoe all by himself to the island.
‘He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body.
‘They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the sea shore.’
‘We are aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,’ a spokeswoman for the United States consulate in India’s southern city of Chennai said in an email.
‘When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts,’ she added, but declined to provide further details over privacy concerns.
The world’s most isolated tribe: Who are the Sentinelese?
The Sentinelese tribe are an indigenous tribe who have thrived on North Sentinal Island, one of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, for up to 55,000 years.
They shun all contact with the outside world and are known to be hostile to any encroachers.
The small forested island of North Sentinel, which is approximately the size of Manhattan, is out of bounds even to the Indian navy in a bid to protect its reclusive inhabitants who number only about 150.
The Sentinelese attracted international attention in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, when a member of the tribe was photographed on a beach, firing arrows at a helicopter that was checking on their welfare.
The tribe (pictured) shun all contact with the outside world and are known to be hostile to any encroachers
In 2006, two Indian fishermen, who had moored their boat near North Sentinel to sleep after poaching in the waters around the island, were killed when their boat broke loose and drifted onto the shore.
Campaigns by non-profit and local organizations have led the Indian government to abandon plans to contact the Sentinelese.
Survival International, an organization that campaigns for the rights of tribal people, works to ensure that no further attempts are made to contact the tribe.
The tribe’s continued hostility to outsiders may lie in its history.
In the late 1800s, M. V. Portman, the British ‘Officer in Charge of the Andamanese’ landed, with a large team, on the island with the hope of contacting the Sentinelese.
They found recently abandoned villages and paths, but the Sentinelese were nowhere to be seen.
The party eventually came across an elderly couple and some children were taken to Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ‘in the interest of science,’ according to Survival.
They soon fell ill and after the adults died, the children were taken back to their island with gifts.
How many Sentinelese became ill as a result of this ‘science’ is not known. However, Survival believe it is likely that the children would have passed on their diseases and the results would have been devastating.
The Andamans are also home to the 400-strong Jarawa tribe who activists say are at threat from outsiders, who often bribe local authorities to spend a day out with them.
But tribes such as the Sentinelese shun all contact with the outside world and are known to be hostile to any encroachers.
The North Sentinel island is out of bounds even to the Indian navy in a bid to protect its reclusive inhabitants who number only about 150.
The Sentinelese attracted international attention in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, when a member of the tribe was photographed on a beach, firing arrows at a helicopter that was checking on their welfare.
In 2006, two Indian fishermen, who had moored their boat near North Sentinel to sleep after poaching in the waters around the island, were killed when their boat broke loose and drifted onto the shore.