U.S. Missionary Killed By Primitive Island Tribe

An American tourist, John Allen Chau, was killed by the Sentinelese tribe on the North Sentinel Island, which is part of the Andaman Islands. Seven people have been arrested for helping the Christian missionary reach the island after the US Consulate filed an FIR in Chennai.

The death of the 27-year-old on November 17 has cast a new spotlight on efforts to protect one of the world’s last “uncontracted” tribes, whose language and customs remain a mystery to outsiders.

Fishermen who took Mr Chau to North Sentinel — which is one of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal — said they saw the tribe burying the body on the beach.

The Sentinelese normally attack anyone who goes to the island and Mr Pathak said police were monitoring to see if there was a repeat of an incident after two fishermen who strayed onto the island were killed in 2006.

Though Mr Chau’s death is officially a murder case, anthropologists say it may be impossible to retrieve the American’s body and that no charges will be made against the protected tribe.

Seven people, including six fishermen who were involved in ferrying Mr Chau to North Sentinel, have been arrested.

The fishermen have accompanied the police teams to the island to help efforts to pinpoint where Mr Chau was killed.