Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tribe kills missionary
Christian attacked by isolated group on prohibited Indian isle
THAILAND
A CHRISTIAN missionary has reportedly been killed by a tribe after landing on a prohibited Indian island.
Police said John Chau, 27, was attacked with arrows by endangered indigenous people in Andaman and Nicobar.
His body was left on the beach where he landed.
Police said the American did not tell them of his plan to travel to remote North Sentinel island to try to convert its inhabitants.
Dependra Pathak, chief of Andaman and Nicobar Police, added: “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.”
Contact with isolated Andaman tribes is illegal, to protect its people and because they have attacked outsiders. Since last year, taking footage is also banned.
Seven fishermen have been arrested for illegally ferrying Mr Chau to the island. Mr Pathak went on: “They used a wooden boat with motors to travel to the island on November 15. The boat stopped 500 to 700 metres away and Mr Chau used a canoe to reach the shore.
“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.”
Mr Pathak said a team including police, coastguards and tribal welfare officers were in the waters plotting a recovery mission.
It is prohibited to go within five nautical miles of North Sentinel after previous aggressive behaviour towards outsiders. In 2006, two fishermen were killed by Sentinelese.
A 2011 count, from a distance, spotted 15 Sentinelese people. A census 10 years earlier estimated their population at 39.
ANDAMANS POLICE CHIEF