Indian authorities have been urged to abandon their efforts to recover the body of an American man killed while trying to preach Christianity to the isolated residents of a remote island. 
 
 Police in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian territory in the Bay of Bengal, have made two boat trips to the area near North Sentinel Island since the missionary John Allen Chau was killed 11 days ago. 
 
 Chau, 26, was last seen by fishermen leaving for the island on the morning of 16 November after writing in his diary that he wanted to “declare Jesus” to its residents, members of a virtually “uncontacted” tribe thought to be at least 30,000 years old and known to aggressively resist outsiders. 
 
 Fishermen, who Chau allegedly paid 25,000 rupees (£277) to smuggle him to the island, say they saw what looked like his body being buried in the sand the next morning. 
 
 Police say they are consulting experts to decide whether it is feasible to retrieve Chau’s body, and will not provoke a confrontation with the Sentinelese, whose island is off limits to visitors without permission. 
 
 Survival International, a group which advocates for the rights of tribal peoples, has called on Indian authorities to abandon any recovery efforts, which it said would be “incredibly dangerous” for both sides. 
 
 “The risk of a deadly epidemic of flu, measles or other outside disease is very real, and increases with every such contact,” its director, Stephen Corry, said in a statement. “Mr Chau’s body should be left alone, as should the Sentinelese.” 
 
 A group of Indian anthropologists, authors and activists issued a similar statement on Monday. “The rights and the desires of the Sentinelese need to be respected and nothing is to be achieved by escalating the conflict and tension, and worse, to creating a situation where more harm is caused,” they said. 
 
 Dependra Pathak, the director of police in the Andamans, said a crime had taken place and police had an obligation to investigate – which could involve further surveys of the island to collect evidence to enable the issuing of a death certificate for Chau. “Based on requirements, further reconnaissance will be carried out,” he said on Tuesday. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Chau’s Instagram account described him as a ‘wilderness emergency medical technician’. Photograph: Reuters 
 
 A team of anthropologists are en route to the Andamans and will help police understand how they should proceed. “We have said from the beginning, we do not want a confrontation,” Pathak said. “As we draw up our strategy, and even to undertake a reconnaissance trip, we are in constant touch with academics and tribal welfare officials who have a better idea on [the tribe].” 
 
 He said police were trying to reconstruct the events that may have led to Chau’s death. According to his diary, he landed near the island on 15 November at about 4.30am, entering a cove on the western side and settling in the shallows. 
 
 After about four hours, when no Sentinelese tribespeople had appeared, Chau ventured on to the beach where, he wrote, he was confronted by several armed people with yellow paste smeared on their faces. 
 
 They chased him away and fired at him – piercing his waterproof bible – but Chau returned at about 2pm the same day and spotted a man he described wearing a crown of flowers and adopting a “leadership stance”. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Sentinelese tribesman photographed in 2004. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Chau dropped some fish, which he said the Sentinelese picked up. He tried to communicate with the group using a southern African language, but was greeted with silence and laughter. 
 
 That night, back on the boat, as he prepared to return the next morning, Chau wrote to his parents: “You guys might think I’m crazy in all this, but I think it’s worth it to declare Jesus to these people. 
 
 “Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed. Rather, please live your lives in obedience to whatever he has called you to and I’ll see you again when you pass through the veil.” ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Who are the Sentinelese? 
 
 Indian officials have "put on hold" efforts to retrieve the body of an American missionary reportedly killed by an endangered tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar islands last week. 
 
 A senior official told the BBC it was done so as not to disturb the protected Sentinelese tribespeople. 
 
 John Allen Chau is said to have been killed with arrows when he landed on North Sentinel island on 17 November. 
 
 He was trying to convert the tribespeople to Christianity. 
 
 His body is still on the island and attempts so far to retrieve it have been unsuccessful. 
 
 On Monday, top government official Chetan Sanghi called a meeting of senior officials from the police, tribal welfare, forest and anthropological departments where it was decided to put the search for the body on hold, an official who attended the meeting told the BBC. 
 
 The official, who did not want to be named, said a boat was sent to the area on Tuesday morning, but it was "only to check the situation". 
 
 "In the initial days several attempts were made to find the body after the tribesmen were seen dragging it. We know the general direction of where it was taken, but we still don't know where exactly it is," he said. 
 
 The decision to halt the search was taken because the exercise "is too risky" and also after "objections" were raised by various groups, he added. 
 
 Earlier on Monday, rights group Survival International said the search should be called off as it was "incredibly dangerous" for both the Sentinelese and officials. 
 
 "Such efforts in similar cases in the past have ended with the Sentinelese attempting to defend their island by force," said Survival director Stephen Corry. 
 
 Indian anthropologists and researchers also expressed concern that search teams going to the island may escalate tensions. 
 
 In the past few days, police are reported to have used a ship and a helicopter to get close to the island because a murder case has been registered which has to be investigated. 
 
 But considering that the tribespeople are protected, the authorities are in a quandary about how to proceed further. 
 
 In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two Indian fishermen who had tried to sneak on to the island. Officials were unable to retrieve the bodies. 
 
 What have authorities done so far? 
 
 The most recent attempt to retrieve Chau's body was at the weekend, when a police boat faced off with Sentinelese tribesmen but withdrew to avoid confrontation. 
 
 On Saturday, police stationed their boat about 400m (437 yards) offshore and, using binoculars, saw tribesmen on the beach armed with bows and arrows. 
 
 "They stared at us and we were looking at them," regional police chief Dependra Pathak told reporters. The boat then withdrew. 
 
 Image copyright Survival International Image caption Few images of the endangered tribe exist 
 
 Image copyright Christian Caron - Creative Commons A-NC-SA Image caption The Sentinelese stand guard on an island beach in 2005 
 
 Six fishermen who ferried Chau, 27, to North Sentinel island have been arrested over the incident, with one other person also held. 
 
 Outsiders are banned from even approaching the island so as to protect the people who live there, and their way of life. 
 
 The complete isolation of the Sentinelese people means contact with the outside world could put them at risk, as they are likely to have no immunity to even common illnesses such as flu and measles. 
 
 The tribesmen have also treated outsiders with hostility for years. 
 
 Chau's family have said they forgive those who killed him. 
 
 Read more on uncontacted tribes: ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Who are the Sentinelese? 
 
 The family of a US man reportedly killed by arrows fired by members of an endangered tribe in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands have said they forgive those who killed him. 
 
 In a statement, they said John Allen Chau "loved God, life, helping those in need, and had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people". 
 
 Seven people who helped him reach North Sentinel island have been arrested. 
 
 The Indian authorities say it may take "some days" to recover Mr Chau's body. 
 
 A missionary who was in contact with Mr Chau in the last days of his trip says his aim was to bring the gospel to the island's tribesmen. 
 
 Outsiders are banned from even approaching the island to protect the people who live there, and their way of life. 
 
 The complete isolation of the Sentinelese people means contact with the outside world could put them at risk, as they are likely to have no immunity to even common illnesses such as flu and measles. 
 
 Mr Chau's family released a statement on Instagram, saying he had gone to the island of "his own free will". 
 
 "We also ask for the release of those friends he had in the Andaman Islands. He ventured out of his own free will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions," the statement said. 
 
 A murder case has been registered against unknown persons, and seven people, including at least five fishermen, have been arrested for helping Mr Chau reach the island, police say. 
 
 The authorities have sent a helicopter and a ship to the area to identify where the incident took place. 
 
 "We maintained a distance from the island and have not yet been able to spot the body. It may take some more days and... [reconnaissance] of the area," Dependra Pathak, director-general of police on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, told the AFP news agency. 
 
 Police have roped in field experts, including Indian anthropologists and tribal welfare and forest officers, to help them tackle the situation. 
 
 "We have to take care that we must not disturb them or their habitat by any means. It is a highly sensitive zone and it will take some time," he said. 
 
 On his last visit to the island, Mr Chau had taken a boat with local fishermen towards the remote North Sentinel island. He then ventured alone in a canoe to the beach. 
 
 As soon as he set foot on the island, he was attacked with bows and arrows, according to the fishermen. 
 
 Image copyright Survival International Image caption Few images of the endangered tribe exist 
 
 According to extracts of a journal published in the Washington Post, on a previous visit, he had shouted at them: "My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you." 
 
 One of the tribesmen shot at him with an arrow, which pierced his waterproof Bible, he wrote. 
 
 In a last note to his family, he wrote: "You guys might think I'm crazy in all this but I think it's worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people. 
 
 "God, I don't want to die." 
 
 He had taken scissors, safety pins and a football as gifts to the tribe, according to a source quoted by Reuters news agency who had access to his notes and asked not to be named. 
 
 He wrote he was "doing this to establish the kingdom of Jesus on the island... Do not blame the natives if I am killed," the source said. 
 
 'Dream gone wrong' 
 
 Jeff King is president of International Christian Concern, the organisation with which Mr Chau was aligned, and was in contact with him during his visit. 
 
 "John went there to bring the gospel to these people... He had talked about it... planned it for a while, so it wasn't a whim, it wasn't a lark," he told the BBC's Newsday programme. 
 
 "He'd been in the islands before, to this particular island... there were three or four visits on that day, and what happened was on the first visit he was turned back by arrows; the second visit, he came with two big fish as a gift. 
 
 "My understanding was the men accepted the gift; they sat together for an hour; he said they were menacing and they actually shot him. He went back to the boat, and then gradually went back a third time. That's when the fishermen who were looking through binoculars saw that they'd killed him and were taking him apart. 
 
 "This was not a job he was doing - this was a dream he had that unfortunately went wrong." 
 
 The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a chain of small islands hundreds of kilometres east of India in the Indian Ocean. 
 
 Contact with several tribes on the islands is illegal to protect their indigenous way of life. 
 
 In 2017, the Indian government also said taking photographs or making videos of the aboriginal Andaman tribes would be punishable with imprisonment of up to three years. 
 
 Two Indian fishermen fishing illegally off North Sentinel Island were killed by the tribe in 2006. 
 
 Image copyright Christian Caron - Creative Commons A-NC-SA Image caption The Sentinelese stand guard on an island beach in 2005 
 
 The Sentinelese are totally cut off from the rest of the world. 
 
 Global organisations like London-based Survival International have been campaigning to protect the indigenous tribes living in the Andamans. 
 
 The tribe live on their own island, roughly the size of Manhattan, but most of what is known about them comes from viewing them from a distance. 
 
 Read more on uncontacted tribes:
– India is giving up attempts to recover John Allen Chau's body from the remote island where the US missionary was killed by tribespeople, at least temporarily. Government officials, including those within law enforcement and tribal welfare, agreed Monday to put the plan on hold to avoid disturbing the protected Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island, reports the BBC. A government official adds that a boat was dispatched Tuesday morning "only to check the situation." No contact has been made with the tribe, which resists outsiders, since the 26-year-old Chau is believed to have died after reaching the island on Nov. 16, per CNN. Fishermen who dropped him off believe they saw his body a day later. "We know the general direction of where it was taken, but we still don't know where exactly it is," the official tells the BBC, referring to the body's recovery as "too risky." Survival International said the recovery would be "incredibly dangerous," noting the risk of disease for the islanders and past incidents that resulted in them using force in a bid to defend their home, reports the Guardian. Still, evidence may need to be collected before Chau's death certificate can be issued. (The bodies of two fishermen killed on the island in 2006 have not been recovered.)