US man’s body could be lost in battle to preserve isolated tribe

Tribal rights specialists say no murder charges will ever be laid in Andaman island killing

The body of American missionary-adventurer John Allen Chau may never be recovered from the lost island where he fell in a volley of arrows fired by a reclusive tribe whose existence is threatened by the modern world, say experts.

The menace to the Sentinelese from Chau’s one-man invasion is such that tribal rights specialists say no murder charges will ever be laid and Chau’s body will have to stay hidden to protect what is probably the world’s last preneolithic tribe.

Indian authorities — who do not dare enforce their rule over North Sentinel island — have not tried to send police ashore to question the tribe who have been greeting outsiders with hostility for centuries.

Police sent a boat near North Sentinel for the second time since the killing on Friday.

“Due precautions were taken by the team to ensure that this particularly vulnerable tribal group are not disturbed and distressed during this exercise,” said a police statement.

Fears that 21st century diseases as mild as the common cold could kill off the tribe, or that experiencing electricity and the internet would devastate their lifestyle, has left them in a guarded bubble that Chau sought to burst.

Double dilemma

The American died last week after making several attempts to reach the Sentinelese to preach Christianity — knowing it was illegal to go within five kilometres of the island.

Pankaj Sekhsaria, a tribal rights expert and author on the Andaman and Nicobar islands, said it would be “a futile exercise” to try to retrieve Chau’s body.

“I don’t think it is a good idea to go anywhere near (North Sentinel) because it will create conflict with the community there,” he said.

“I don’t believe there is any safe way to retrieve the body without putting both the Sentinelese and those attempting it at risk,” added Sophie Grig, senior researcher for Survival International which campaigns for such isolated groups.

Police in the Indian Ocean paradise are now wrestling with a double dilemma: how to answer the prayers of Chau’s family and maintain the privacy around North Sentinel that is essential for the tribe’s survival.

Andamans police chief Dependra Pathak has said no timeline can be given for finding a body.

And Sekhsaria warned Indian authorities may now have to strengthen surveillance around North Sentinel to prevent a Chau copycat.

“The administration is seized of the matter, they are already thinking about the surveillance,” he said.

I don’t believe there is any safe way to retrieve the body without putting both the Sentinelese and those attempting it at risk.” Sophie Grig | Senior researcher for Survival International