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: ||||| 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.” ||||| New Delhi (CNN) Authorities in India have decided to hold off retrieving the body of the American national feared killed on North Sentinel Island amid concerns about a possible confrontation with the tribe that lives there. 
 
 John Allen Chau is believed to have been killed by Sentinelese tribespeople after he visited their island home in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in November, breaching local laws strictly prohibiting contact with the isolated people. 
 
 Indian police say Chau found local fishermen who agreed to take him near the island, before using a canoe the rest of the way. Days later, the fishermen -- who have since been arrested for facilitating his trip -- say they saw the tribespeople dragging his body around the island. 
 
 "We want to avoid direct confrontation with the tribespeople," Dependra Pathak, director general of police of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told CNN when asked about the latest efforts to retrieve Chau's body. "We do not want to go there and create an unhappy situation." 
 
 The decision to avoid a direct confrontation with the isolated tribe came after a series of meetings and reconnaissance trips made by the officials. Anthropologists and tribal experts were also consulted. 
 
 By Sunday, authorities had mapped out the area with the help of the fishermen and observed several members of the tribe walking around the area where eyewitnesses claim to have seen Chau's body dragged and buried. 
 
 However, despite ruling out any immediate attempts to land on the island, local police would not categorically rule out retrieving the body at a future date. "We are working on it. We'll firm up a plan very soon," said Pathak. 
 
 The Sentinelese: World's most isolated tribe 
 
 The Sentinelese have lived in complete isolation on the remote North Sentinel Island for tens of thousands of years. The island, which is part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory, is roughly as large as Manhattan. 
 
 India has protected the island for decades to prevent the Sentinelese from contracting modern illnesses and to keep outsiders safe. 
 
 People are not allowed to go within five nautical miles of the island by Indian law and the Indian Navy patrols it day and night. 
 
 And while its residents have no contact with the outside world, they aren't too far from other civilizations. 
 
 The island is only about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Port Blair, the territory's capital known to tourists for its stunning emerald beaches, history and water sports. 
 
 At least 15 Sentinelese could be living on the island, according to India's census estimates from 2011. 
 
 John Allen Chau was an avid aventure traveler. 
 
 He returned to his boat twice before vanishing 
 
 Traveling on a tourist visa, Chau arrived at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in October with one mission: preach to the Sentinelese. 
 
 Indian authorities say Chau was 27, but Mat Staver, founder of a Christian ministry that Chau was involved with as a college student, gave Chau's age as 26. 
 
 He had traveled to the remote island years ago and returned knowing that his mission was illegal and risky. Still, he wanted to get to know the islanders' way of life. He hoped to eventually share the gospel and perhaps translate the Bible, said a friend, John Middleton Ramsey. 
 
 He asked a local friend, an electronic engineer, to get a boat and also recruit others -- several fishermen and a water sports expert -- who could help him. 
 
 He carefully planned his expedition and used a 13-page long journal to write his strategy, the steps he would take to reach the island and, later, some of his memories. 
 
 After he paid the fishermen around $350, police said, the group boarded "a wooded boat fitted with motors" and headed to the island on the night of November 15. 
 
 They stopped a little less than half a mile away and waited in the dark. At some point in the morning, Chau "used a canoe to reach the shore of the island," Pathak said. 
 
 He returned later that day with arrow injuries, police said. 
 
 But that did not discourage him. 
 
 He returned to the island the following day. It's unclear what happened but "the (tribespeople) broke his canoe" and he had no other option than to swim back to the boat. 
 
 On the third attempt of his mission, he didn't come back. 
 
 The fishermen said they later saw the tribespeople dragging his body around but police haven't been able to independently verify Chau's death. Authorities believe he was killed. 
 
 All seven locals who facilitated the trip have been arrested.
– 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.)