American killed by isolated tribe on Indian island
NEW DELHI — An American adventurer was killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to shoot at outsiders with bows and arrows, police said Wednesday.
Dependera Pathak, director-general of police on India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said seven fishermen have been arrested for helping the American visit North Sentinel Island, where the killing occurred.
Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government.
The Sentinelese people on the small forested island are known to resist contacts with outsiders, often attacking anyone who comes near.
Pathak identified the American as John Allen Chau and said he earlier described himself at a hotel as 26 years old and from Alabama.
He was apparently killed by arrows, but the cause of death can’t be confirmed until his body is recovered, Pathak said.
Police have approached anthropologists with contacts on the island in an effort to recover the body, Pathak said.
He said Chau arrived in the region on Oct. 16 and stayed in a hotel while he prepared to visit the prohibited island in the Andaman Islands.
He said Chau organized his visit to the island through a friend who hired seven fishermen for $325 to take him there on a boat, which also towed his kayak.
Chau went ashore in his kayak on Nov. 15 and sent the boat with the fishermen out to sea to avoid detection, Pathak said. He interacted with some of the tribespeople, but they became angry and shot an arrow at him which apparently hit a book he was carrying, Pathak said.
The American’s kayak became damaged, so he swam to the fishermen’s boat. There he spent the night before setting out again to meet the tribespeople on Nov. 16.
But the next morning, the fishermen saw from a distance his body being dragged by tribesmen. They left to inform Chau’s friend, who notified his family.