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. 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. "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. 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". 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. “We have said from the beginning, we do not want a confrontation,” Pathak said. 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. 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. 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. Outsiders are banned from even approaching the island so as to protect the people who live there, and their way of life. Authorities believe he was killed.
– 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.)