Officials fail to spot body, tap experts
NEW DELHI : The closest that the Andaman and Nicobar police could come to the North Sentinel Island, separated by water and cut off from the world for centuries, on Thursday in an effort to retrieve the body of an American national was 700 metres.
The island is home to the last tribe in the world that has never been contacted: the Sentinelese, an estimated group of 40-200 that has survived for centuries by hunting, fishing and collecting wild plants. On November 16, John Allen Chau, 26 was killed by the tribesmen when he set foot on the island, assisted by a group of fishermen.
Based on a fisherman’s statement, police fear Chau may have been killed, but are yet to recover his body. Police have arrested the seven men who helped him reach the restricted island.
The police are now roping in anthropologists and experts on primitive tribes in an effort to understand the behaviour of the Sentinelese.
“After talking to experts, who have worked with the tribals here, we tried to watch them from a distance and study their behaviour after the murder. They did not come out on the beach. This could be a pattern after the feared murder,” said a senior police officer, who did not want to be named. For about three hours on Thursday, the police and coast guard officials watched the beach where Chau was killed by an arrow, the official added.
According to director general of police Dependra Pathak, reconnaissance missions from sea and air did not spot Chau’s body. “We are planning to rope in experts in anthropology, forest and tribal welfare. They may formulate a strategy,” he added.
C Raghu, the head of Anthropological Survey of India’s regional office in Port Blair, said that they were yet to be contacted but would extend any help if asked. “Chau violated the law and risked his life. Even we, who have studied the Sentinelese for decades, do not dare to venture there,” he said.
For now, the efforts will be restricted to scouting the island from afar. According to the source quoted above, police have secured custody of some of the fishermen who helped Chau reach the island and saw him be killed. “We will try to go at least 500m near the island tomorrow. On Thursday, those untouched residents did not come to the beach the whole day.
Our officers waited for many hours. Experts have told us that this is a pattern. Previously too, after the deaths, they have not come to the beach for weeks,” the officer said.
Pathak too said surveys by police in the morning did not reveal anything. “After more than a decade, an outsider had managed to sneak into their territory. The surveying team did not spot them in jungles or the beach,” he said.
Other officials in the Andaman police, who spoke to HT over phone, said Chau’s feared murder was the first of its kind. “Never before have I come across such a case. We know the suspects and even their current place of hiding but out hands are tied. Legally we can go, but issue here is about sensitivity. They have never been in touch with outsiders,” a senior officer said
Chau was on his third visit to the Andamans since 2015. His visit to the North Sentinel Island, which was in violation of local laws, was aided by five fishermen, a water sports help and a Port Blair-based engineer and self-styled missionary Alexander KS. Police arrested these seven people and charged them with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences.
On Wednesday, Chau’s family posted a message on the his Instagram page. “We forgive those reportedly responsible for his death. We also asked for the release of those friends he had in the Andaman Island. He ventured out on his own free will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions,” the Chau family said.
Pathak said the island administration will follow law and prosecute those who have been arrested. The only recorded contact with the Sentinelese was in 1991 by anthropologist Triloknath Pandit, who went close to the island on a boat. Two Sentinelese men accepted coconuts from him but did not allow him to step on the island.