FILE PHOTO: A Sentinel tribal man aims with his bow and arrow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter as it flies over the island for a survey of the damage caused by the tsunami in India's Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, December 28, 2004. REUTERS/Indian Coast Guard/Handout
Morung Express News
The US tourist killed by arrows shot by tribesmen living in one of the world's most isolated regions tucked in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands had told his family on Nov. 16 “they not be angry if he was killed.”
John Allen Chau is believed to have died around November 17, IANS News Agency reported. He arranged his trip to the restricted North Sentinel, part of the Andaman Islands at the intersection of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
The first time he made it to the Island he came bearing gifts that included a football and fish, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Chau interacted with some of the tribesmen — who survive by hunting, fishing and collecting wild plants and are known for attacking anyone who comes near with bows and arrows and spears — until they became angry and shot an arrow at him, it said.
It struck a book he was carrying, which an acquaintance said was a Bible, it added. The 26-year-old adventurer and Christian missionary then swam back to a boat of fishermen that was waiting at a safe distance. That night, he wrote about his adventures and left his notes with the fishermen. He returned to the island the next day, on Nov. 16.
What happened then isn’t known, but on the morning of the following day, the fishermen watched from the boat as tribesmen dragged Chau’s body along the beach, the AP report informed.
Quoting Dependera Pathak, director-general of police, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the report said that on Wednesday (November 21) seven fishermen have been arrested for helping the American reach North Sentinel Island.
“It was a case of misdirected adventure,” and he was apparently shot and killed by arrows, but the cause of death can’t be confirmed until his body is recovered, he told AP.
Officials were working with anthropologists to recover the body.
'He loved God, life, and helping those in need'
Meanwhile, Chau’s family in an Instagram post said it was mourning him as a “beloved son, brother, uncle and best friend to us.”
“He loved God, life, and helping those in need and had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people. We forgive those reportedly responsible for his death,” the post said.
The family also called for the release of those who assisted him in his quest to reach the island. “He ventured out on his own free will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions.”
Narrating the chains of events leading to the death, the AP report informed that Chau arrived in the area on Oct. 16 and stayed in a hotel while he prepared to travel to the island. He had earlier visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2015 and 2016.
With help from a friend, Chau hired the seven fishermen for $325 to take him there on a boat, which also towed the kayak Chau used to reach the island the first time, it said further quoting the DIG Pathak.
After the fishermen realized Chau had been killed, they left for Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they broke the news to Chau’s friend, who in turn notified his family.
‘Didn’t go there for just adventure’
Chau had wanted ever since high school to go to North Sentinel to share Jesus with the indigenous people, according to AP, narrating the account of Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Covenant Journey, a program that takes college students on a tour of Israel to affirm their Christian faith. Chau went through that program in 2015.
“He didn’t go there for just adventure. I have no question it was to bring the gospel of Jesus to them,” Staver said.
As per the account, he carrying a Bible that was hit by an arrow when he was first shot at by the tribesmen on Nov. 15, according to notes Chau left with the fishermen that Staver said he has seen.
Staver said Chau’s last notes to his family on Nov. 16 told them that they might think he was crazy but that he felt it was worth it and asked that they not be angry if he was killed, it added.
Meanwhile, according to AP, Survival International, an organization that works for the rights of tribal people said that the killing of the American should prompt Indian authorities to properly protect the lands of the Sentinelese.
“The British colonial occupation of the Andaman Islands decimated the tribes living there, wiping out thousands of tribes people, and only a fraction of the original population now survives. So the Sentinelese fear of outsiders is very understandable,” Stephen Corry, the group’s director, said in a statement.
This is not the first time when Sentinelese have attacked and killed outsiders. IANS informed that in 2006, two fishermen went near the island and were killed and the tribals also shot arrows at the helicopter that went to retrieve the bodies.
