Tribesmen repel bid to retrieve body

Indian police have abandoned an attempt to recover the remains of the American missionary who was killed by members of an isolated tribe, after they were confronted by islanders armed with bows and arrows.

On Sunday, as the police vessel got to within 400m of North -Sentinel Island – one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal – officers spotted the armed islanders, who were clearly prepared to fight.

The police unit, which was trying to locate the body of John Allen Chau, then had a longdistance stand-off with natives.

‘‘They stared at us and we were looking at them,’’ said Dependra Pathak, the directorgeneral of police.

The police boat then withdrew to avoid any confrontation. Authorities always take great care to avoid any direct contact with the Sentinelese, a preneolithic group whose island is barred to visitors.

But Chau’s death last week has highlighted the problems of outsiders interacting with one of the world’s last secluded tribes, whose language and customs are largely inscrutable.

The fishermen who took Chau to North Sentinel said they saw the tribe burying his body on the beach.

The Sentinelese have been known to attack anyone who goes to the island, seeing them as a threat.

Two fishermen who strayed on to the island in 2006 were killed. One week after their deaths, their bodies were hooked on bamboo stakes facing out to sea.

‘‘We are studying the 2006 case. We are asking anthropologists what they do when they kill an outsider,’’ the police chief said. ‘‘We are trying to understand the group psychology.’’

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

Meanwhile, Chau’s family say they forgive the tribe for their actions and are not pushing for retribution.