Image copyright Indian coastguard/Survival International Image caption The Sentinelese have always resisted outside contact

An American man has been killed by an endangered tribe in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Fishermen who took the man to North Sentinel island say tribespeople shot him with arrows and left his body on the beach.

He has been identified as John Allen Chau, a 27 year old from Alabama.

Contact with the endangered Andaman tribes living in isolation from the world is illegal because of the risks to them from outside disease.

Estimates say the Sentinelese, who are totally cut off from civilisation, number only between 50 and 150.

Seven fishermen have been arrested for illegally ferrying the American to the island, police say.

Image copyright Instagram/John Chau Image caption On 21 October, @johnachau posted that he was travelling to the region

Local media have reported that Chau may have wanted to meet the tribe to preach Christianity to them.

But on social media the young man presented himself as a keen traveller and adventurer.

"Police said Chau had previously visited North Sentinel island about four or five times with the help of local fishermen," journalist Subir Bhaumik, who has been covering the islands for years, told BBC Hindi.

"The number of people belonging to the Sentinelese tribe is so low, they don't even understand how to use money. It's in fact illegal to have any sort of contact with them."

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.

Image copyright Christian Caron - Creative Commons A-NC-SA Image caption The Sentinelese stand guard on an island beach in 2005

The AFP news agency quoted a source as saying that Chau had tried and failed to reach the island on 14 November. But then he tried again two days later.

"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," the report added.

Chau's body was spotted on 20 November. According to the Hindustan Times, his remains have yet to be recovered.

"It's a difficult case for the police," says Mr Bhaumik. "You can't even arrest the Sentinelese."

Image copyright Survival International Image caption Few images of the endangered tribe exist

Two Indian fisherman fishing illegally off North Sentinel Island were also killed by the tribe in 2006.

Firing arrows at helicopters

Geeta Pandey, BBC News, Delhi

I first heard of the Sentinelese in 2004 just after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.

I was at the daily press briefing by the authorities a few days later when we were told that the members of the isolated tribes had survived.

A navy helicopter on patrol had flown over the North Sentinel island of the archipelago where the Sentinelese live to check on them.

As they descended a bit to take a closer look, members of the tribe began firing arrows at them.

"So we knew that they were safe," the pilot told us.

Image copyright Survival International Image caption An aerial shot shows North Sentinel Island that the tribe inhabit

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.

'Understandable' fear

The group's international director, Stephen Corry, called the incident a "tragedy" that "should never have been allowed to happen".

"The Sentinelese have shown again and again that they want to be left alone, and their wishes should be respected," he said.

"The British colonial occupation of the Andaman Islands decimated the tribes living there, wiping out thousands of tribespeople, and only a fraction of the original population now survive. So the Sentinelese fear of outsiders is very understandable."

The two endangered aboriginal Andaman tribes - the Jarawa and the Sentinelese - are hunter-gatherers, and contact with the outside world would put them at risk of contracting disease.

The Sentinelese are particularly vulnerable: their complete isolation means they are likely to have no immunity to even common illnesses such as flu and measles.

"It's not impossible that the Sentinelese have just been infected by deadly pathogens to which they have no immunity, with the potential to wipe out the entire tribe," said Mr Corry.

Groups have also voiced concern about the Jarawa - a tribe that has some contact with the outside world, including a road that cuts through their territory that is used by some tourists for "safari" trips.</s>An American man, identified as John Allen Chau, is believed to have been killed by the Sentinelese people, a tribe entirely cut off from the outside world on India’s remote North Sentinel Island, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Chau was a Christian missionary who “had a strong desire to meet the Sentinelese and preach on the island,” a police source told Reuters.

Fishermen dropped him off near the island Nov. 16, and he used a canoe to finish his trip there, the report said.

Chau’s body was spotted the following day by the fisherman on their return, Reuters said.

The report said a murder case has been registered against the Sentinelese people.

The Sentinelese are known to attack outsiders with bows and arrows. In 2006, the tribe killed two fishermen whose boat drifted to the island.

Chau was ferried to the Andamans, a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal between India and Burma.

“Adventure awaits. So do leeches,” read the final post on his Instagram account, dated Nov. 2.

The Daily Mail reported Chau was a 27-year-old native of Vancouver, Washington, who believed he had been called to share the gospel with the Sentinelese.

The anti-persecution group International Christian Concern expressed alarm about the killing and said India has a history of attacks on foreign Christian missionaries.

“We here at International Christian Concern are extremely concerned by the reports of an American missionary being murdered in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” ICC regional manager William Stark said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to both John’s family and friends.

“A full investigation must be launched in this murder and those responsible must be brought to justice.”

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Authorities said this wasn’t Chau’s first visit to the Andaman islands, but it was his first time on North Sentinel Island.

His body has not yet been retrieved from the island, the Daily Mail reported.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>In this October 2018 photo, American adventurer John Allen Chau, right, stands for a photograph with Founder of Ubuntu Football Academy Casey Prince, 39, in Cape Town, South Africa, days before he left for in a remote Indian island of North Sentinel Island, where he was killed.

NEW DELHI – Indian authorities were struggling Thursday to figure out how to recover the body of an American killed last week after wading ashore on an isolated island cut off from the modern world.

John Allen Chau was killed by North Sentinel islanders who apparently shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach, police say.

But even officials don’t travel to North Sentinel, where people live as their ancestors did thousands of years ago, and where outsiders are seen with suspicion and attacked.

“It’s a difficult proposition,” said Dependera Pathak, director-general of police on India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where North Sentinel is located. “We have to see what is possible, taking utmost care of the sensitivity of the group and the legal requirements.”

Police are consulting anthropologists, tribal welfare experts, forest experts and scholars to figure out a way to recover the body, he said.

While visits to the island are forbidden, Chau paid fishermen last week to take him to the island. He used a kayak to paddle to shore, bringing gifts including a football and fish.

He interacted with some of the tribesmen – who survive by hunting, fishing and collecting wild plants and are known for attacking anyone who comes near with bows and arrows and spears – until they became angry and shot an arrow at him. The 26-year-old adventurer and Christian missionary then swam back to the fishermen’s boat waiting at a safe distance.

More: American missionary, adventurer killed by tribe members on restricted and remote island

That night, he wrote about his visit and left his notes with the fishermen. He returned to North Sentinel the next day, Nov. 16.

What happened then isn’t known, but on the morning of the following day, the fishermen watched from the boat as tribesmen dragged Chau’s body along the beach and buried his remains.

Pathak said the seven people have been arrested for helping Chau, including five fishermen, a friend of Chau’s and a local tourist guide.

“It was a case of misdirected adventure,” Pathak said.

Chau was apparently shot and killed by arrows, but the cause of death can’t be confirmed until his body is recovered, Pathak said.

In an Instagram post, his family said it was mourning him as a “beloved son, brother, uncle and best friend to us.” The family also said it forgave his killers and called for the release of those who assisted him in his quest to reach the island.

“He ventured out on his own free will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions,” the family said.

Authorities say Chau arrived in the area on Oct. 16 and stayed on another island while he prepared to travel to North Sentinel. It was not his first time in the region: he had visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2015 and 2016. North Sentinel is part of the Andaman Islands and sits at the intersection of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

With help from a friend, Chau hired fishermen for $325 to take him there on a boat, Pathak said.

After the fishermen realized Chau had been killed, they left for Port Blair, the capital of the island chain, where they broke the news to Chau’s friend, who in turn notified his family, Pathak said.

Police surveyed the island by air on Tuesday, and a team of police and forest department officials used a coast guard boat to travel there Wednesday and another trip was planned Thursday.

India has a very hands-off approach to the island’s people. Tribespeople killed two Indian fishermen in 2006 when their boat broke loose and drifted onto the shore, but Indian media reports say officials did not investigate or prosecute anyone in the deaths.

Chau had wanted ever since high school to go to North Sentinel to share Jesus with the indigenous people, said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Covenant Journey, a program that takes college students on tours of Israel to affirm their Christian faith. Chau went through that program in 2015.

“He didn’t go there for just adventure. I have no question it was to bring the gospel of Jesus to them,” Staver said.

Chau was carrying a Bible that was hit by an arrow when he was first shot at by the tribesmen on Nov. 15, according to notes Chau left with the fishermen that Staver said he has seen.

Staver said Chau’s last notes to his family on Nov. 16 told them that they might think he was crazy but that he felt it was worth it and asked that they not be angry if he was killed.

One of Chau’s friends said the American spent a month at his home in Cape Town, South Africa, before going to India.

“If he was taking a risk, he was very aware of it,” said Casey Prince, 39.

The two first met about six years ago, when Chau was a manager on the soccer team at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Chau and others on the team traveled to South Africa to volunteer at a soccer program Prince founded

Prince described him as easy to like and driven by twin passions: a love of the outdoors and fervent Christianity.

Before attending Oral Roberts University, Chau had lived in southwestern Washington state and went to Vancouver Christian High School. Phone messages left with relatives were not immediately returned Wednesday.

Survival International, an organization that works for the rights of tribal people, said the killing of the American should prompt Indian authorities to properly protect the lands of the Sentinelese.

Associated Press writers Tim Sullivan in New Delhi, Gene Johnson and Phuong Le in Seattle, and Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.</s>An American Christian missionary is thought to have been killed by tribespeople from one of the world’s most isolated communities on a remote island hundreds of miles off the coast of India, according to officials.

The 27-year-old American came to India on a tourist visa but came to the Andaman and Nicobar islands in October with the express purpose of proselytizing, Dependra Pathak, Director General of Police of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told CNN.

“We refuse to call him a tourist. Yes, he came on a tourist visa but he came with a specific purpose to preach on a prohibited island,” Pathak said.

He did not inform the police of his intentions to travel to the island to attempt to convert its inhabitants.

The island, North Sentinel Island, is inhabited by the Sentinelese people, who are protected under Indian law. Just more than a dozen people are officially thought to live on the remote island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

Pathak said that the American missionary had asked one of his local friends, an electronic engineer, to arrange a boat and find some fishermen who could take him to the island. The contact found a boat and the fishermen, along with a water sports expert, to help with the expedition.

All seven locals who facilitated the trip have been arrested.

“According to the fishermen, they used a wooden boat fitted with motors to travel to the island on November 15,” Pathak said.

“The boat stopped 500-700 meters (1,640 – 2,300 ft) away from the island and (the American missionary) used a canoe to reach the shore of the island. He came back later that day with arrow injuries. On the 16th, the (tribespeople) broke his canoe.

“So he came back to the boat swimming. He did not come back on the 17th; the fishermen later saw the tribespeople dragging his body around.”

The police haven’t independently verified if he is indeed dead, but based on what the fishermen have told them believe that he was killed.

“We have a team out in the waters for reconnaissance and to strategize how to recover his body. The team consists of coastal guards, officials from tribal welfare department, forest department officers and police officials.”

The island is a protected area, and it is prohibited to go within five nautical miles of it, after previous incidents of aggressive behavior towards outsiders had been observed. In 2006, two local fishermen were killed by the tribes.

An official from the US consulate in Chennai confirmed that diplomats are “aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.”

“When a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment,” the official said.

The island group is about 850 miles (1,370 kilometers) east of the Indian subcontinent.

There are 572 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory, only three dozen of which are inhabited. The territory has a population of nearly 380,000, according to India’s 2011 census.

The 2011 survey only spotted 15 Sentinelese on their island — the count was done from a distance due to the danger in approaching the tribe. In the 2001 census, the total population was estimated to be 39.

India has designated five indigenous tribal groups in the territory as “particularly vulnerable” due to the loss of sustaining resources and customs.

India’s Ministry of Tribal Affairs has said that, with regard to Sentinelese tribes, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration “has adopted an ‘eyes-on and hands-off’ policy to ensure that no poachers enter into the island.”</s>Indian authorities are struggling to figure out how to recover the body of an American killed last week after wading ashore on an isolated island cut off from the modern world.

Indian authorities are struggling to figure out how to recover the body of an American killed last week after wading ashore on an isolated island cut off from the modern world.

Police say John Allen Chau was apparently shot with arrows by islanders who then buried his body on the beach.

But even officials rarely travel to North Sentinel Island, where the Sentinelese live as their ancestors did thousands of years ago, and outsiders are viewed with suspicion.

Visits are limited to very rare “gift-giving” trips, where small teams of officials and scientists leave gifts of coconuts and bananas.

Dependera Pathak, police director-general on India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said officials are consulting anthropologists, tribal experts and scholars to figure out a way to recover the body.

Mr Chau, reported to be 26 and from Alabama, arrived in the region on October 16 and stayed in a hotel while he prepared to visit the prohibited island, police said.

He had earlier visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2015 and 2016. North Sentinel is in the Andaman Islands at the intersection of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Mr Chau organised his visit to the island through a friend who hired seven fishermen for 325 US dollars (£254) to take him there on a boat, which also towed his kayak.

He went ashore in the kayak on November 15 and sent the boat with the fishermen out to sea to avoid detection, police said.

He interacted with some of the tribespeople, giving them gifts such as a football and fish, but they became angry and shot an arrow at him which apparently hit a book he was carrying.

His kayak was damaged so he swam to the fishermen’s boat, which was waiting at a prearranged location.

He spent the night there and wrote out his experiences on pages which he gave to the fishermen, police said, then set out again the following morning. Later that day, the fishermen saw from a distance his body being dragged by tribesmen.

For thousands of years, the people of North Sentinel island have been isolated from the rest of the world.

They use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island, and gather plants to eat and to fashion into homes.

Their closest neighbours live more than 30 miles away. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who comes through the surf and on to their beaches.

Scholars believe the Sentinelese migrated from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, but most details of their lives remain completely unknown. Estimates of their numbers range from a few dozen to a few hundred.

For generations, Indian officials have forbidden visits to North Sentinel.

Any contact with such isolated people can be dangerous, scholars say, with islanders having no resistance to diseases outsiders carry.

Many of the island chain’s other tribes have been decimated over the past century, lost to disease, intermarriage and migration.</s>NEW DELHI (AP) — Police say an American is believed to have been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to fire at outsiders with bows and arrows.

Police officer Vijay Singh says seven fishermen have been arrested for facilitating the American's visit to North Sentinel Island, where the killing apparently occurred. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government.

The Sentinelese people live on a small forested island and are known to resist all contact with outsiders, often attacking anyone who comes near.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Indian media reports said the American was on an adventure trip to the islands and his body was found by the fishermen.</s>NEW DELHI — An American is believed to have been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to fire at outsiders with bows and arrows, police said on Wednesday.

Police officer Vijay Singh said seven fishermen have been arrested for facilitating the American’s visit to North Sentinel Island, where the killing apparently occurred. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government.

The Sentinelese people live on their own small forested island and are known to resist all contact with outsiders, often attacking anyone who comes near.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Indian media reports said the American was on an adventure trip to the islands and his body was found by the fishermen. However, Singh said the police were in the process of recovering the body.

Singh said the man was killed on Saturday. He declined to give any other details, saying he was investigating the case.

Poachers are known to fish illegally in the waters around the island, catching turtles and diving for lobsters and sea cucumbers. Tribespeople killed two Indian fishermen in 2006 when their boat broke loose and drifted onto the shore.</s>An American adventurer has been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to shoot at outsiders with bows and arrows.

An American adventurer has been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to shoot at outsiders with bows and arrows.

Dependra Pathak, director-general of police on India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said seven fishermen have been arrested for helping the American visit North Sentinel Island, where the killing occurred.

Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government.

The Sentinelese people on the small forested island are known to resist contacts with outsiders, often attacking anyone who comes near.

The American has been identified as John Allen Chau, who earlier described himself at a hotel as 26 years old and from Alabama.

He was apparently killed by arrows, but the cause of death cannot be confirmed until his body is recovered.

Police have approached anthropologists with contacts on the island in an effort to visit and recover the body.

Police said Mr Chau arrived in the region on October 16 and stayed in a hotel while he prepared to visit the prohibited island.

He had earlier visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2015 and 2016. North Sentinel is in the Andaman Islands at the intersection of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Mr Chau organised his visit to the island through a friend who hired seven fishermen for 325 US dollars (£254) to take him there on a boat, which also towed his kayak.

Mr Chau went ashore in his kayak on November 15 and sent the boat with the fishermen out to sea to avoid detection, police said.

He interacted with some of the tribespeople, giving them gifts he had prepared such as a football and fish. But the tribespeople became angry and shot an arrow at him which apparently hit a book he was carrying.

The American’s kayak became damaged, so he swam to the fishermen’s boat, which was waiting at a prearranged location.

There he spent the night and wrote out his experiences on pages of paper which he gave to the fishermen, police said. He set out again to meet the tribespeople on November 16.

But on the morning of the following day, the waiting fishermen saw from a distance his body being dragged by tribesmen.

They left for Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they informed Mr Chau’s friend, who notified his family.

His family got in touch with Indian police and US consular officials.

“It was a case of misdirected adventure,” Mr Pathak said.

Police arrested the seven fishermen and charged them with endangering the life of the American by taking him to a prohibited area.</s>NEW DELHI – An American is believed to have been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to fire at outsiders with bows and arrows, police said on Wednesday.

Police officer Vijay Singh said seven fishermen have been arrested for facilitating the American’s visit to North Sentinel Island, where the killing apparently occurred. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government.

The Sentinelese people live on their own small forested island and are known to resist all contact with outsiders, often attacking anyone who comes near.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Indian media reports said the American was on an adventure trip to the islands and his body was found by the fishermen. However, Singh said the police were in the process of recovering the body.

Singh said the man was killed on Saturday. He declined to give any other details, saying he was investigating the case.

The U.S. consulate in Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, was aware of the reports concerning an American in the islands, but spokeswoman Kathleen Hosie declined to comment further due to privacy considerations.

Shiv Viswanathan, a social scientist and a professor at Jindal Global Law School, said the North Sentinel Island was a protected area and not open to tourists. “The exact population of the tribe is not known, but it is declining. The government has to protect them.”

Poachers are known to fish illegally in the waters around the island, catching turtles and diving for lobsters and sea cucumbers. Tribespeople killed two Indian fishermen in 2006 when their boat broke loose and drifted onto the shore.</s>NEW DELHI — The Latest on the death of an American adventurer and missionary who was killed by an isolated Indian tribe (all times local):

John Allen Chau spent summers alone in a California cabin as a wilderness emergency responder. He led backpacking expeditions in the Northwest's Cascade Mountains, almost lost his leg to a rattlesnake bite, and coached soccer for poor children in Iraq and South Africa.

But kayaking to a remote Indian island, home to a tribe known for firing arrows at outsiders, proved an adventure too far for the avid outdoorsman and Christian missionary.

Police in India said Wednesday he had been killed, and authorities were working with anthropologists to try to recover his body from North Sentinel, in the Andaman Islands.

The 26-year-old was from southwestern Washington state, where he attended Vancouver Christian High School. He went on to graduate from Oral Roberts University, a Christian college in Oklahoma, in 2014, with a degree health and exercise science.

While there, he worked with the university's missions and outreach department.

The family of an American killed by isolated Indian tribesmen says it is forgiving those who did it.

Relatives of John Allen Chau have posted a statement on Instagram in which they said they were mourning him as a "beloved son, brother, uncle and best friend to us."

The family also called for the release of those who assisted him in his quest to reach the island.

Police say Chau was killed on North Sentinel Island by a tribe known for shooting bows and arrows at outsiders.

They say seven fishermen have been arrested for helping Chau visit the island last week.

Visits to the island are heavily restricted, and the Sentinelese people are known to resist contact with outsiders, often attacking them.

Police say an American is believed to have been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to fire at outsiders with bows and arrows.

Police officer Vijay Singh says seven fishermen have been arrested for facilitating the American's visit to North Sentinel Island, where the killing apparently occurred. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government.

The Sentinelese people live on a small forested island and are known to resist all contact with outsiders, often attacking anyone who comes near.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Indian media reports said the American was on an adventure trip to the islands and his body was found by the fishermen.
A 27-year-old American Christian missionary is killed upon landing on North Sentinel Island in an effort to convert the indigenous Sentinelese people. He is the first person killed by the isolated islanders since two Indian nationals in 2006.