While no one witnessed John's tragic death, fishermen reported when they returned a day after setting off that they saw "a dead person being buried at the shore which from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances appeared to be the body of John Allen Chau".Įmotional moment never contacted Amazon tribe reunited with long lost relativesīut undeterred by what had happened, John stressed he would get some rest before trying to leave some more gifts on the shore.Īfter watching the fisherman catch two fish, he again loaded these into his kayak and set off for the shore. He had told those who carried him to the tiny island, which measures just a few miles long and a few miles wide, that he hoped to make contact with the indigenous Sentinelese tribe and convert them to Christianity.Īfter a day of waiting in a boat off the shore of the tiny island, only venturing close enough in his kayak to leave gifts, including scissors, a football and fish, in a bid to secure of welcome from the tribe, he finally set foot on the shore.Īnd what happened next was truly tragic - John was seemingly shot to death with arrows fired by the advancing members of the tribe. The 26-year-old was last seen alive by a group of fishermen, who had dropped him off at North Sentinel Island, in a remote corner of the Indian Ocean. Recovering the body could take days, if it happens at all, as Indian authorities insist they cannot disturb the tribe or their habitat in the highly sensitive zone.Missionary 'may be charged with genocide after exposing jungle tribe to disease' From the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances, it appeared to be the body of the American to them. On November 17, 2018, around 6.30 AM, the fishermen friends saw a dead body being dragged and getting buried by the unknown persons near the shore. He was last seen alive by the accompanying fishermen on November 16, 2018. I love you and Jesus loves you.Here is some fish!"ĭuring his attempts to befriend the Sentinelese, he was shot with an arrow by an unknown person. He said in a note he told the tribe after arriving: "My name is John. Pathak said police will also take a new look at Chau's personal journal, in which he expressed fears that he might be killed. He is believed to have reached near the North Sentinel Island along with the accompanying fishermen around midnight and later, around 4.30am on November 15, he landed at the western shore of North Sentinel.Īfter reaching the island, Chau tried to contact the local tribesmen and offered some gifts such as a small football, playing ring, fishing line, scissors, medical kit etc. He chose to travel at night to skip past the air and sea surveillance by the Coast Guard and Navy. Police said Chau paid the fishermen to take him as close to the island as possible in a motorised dinghy and then took his own kayak to the island. “This is a very sensitive case, and therefore, we want to gather all possible evidences and learn about what exactly happened at Sentinel Island,” the DGP said, adding that they are also trying to find out whether Chau tried to visit the restricted island on a previous visit.įoreigners and Indians are banned from going within five kilometres (three miles) of the island, to protect the Sentinelese, believed to number about 150, from outside disease. The seven people, including six fishermen, who were arrested for leading Chau to North Sentinel are also accompanying the special team as police hope they can give more clues to the place where he was slain, and share details like the sequence of events and the sea route followed by Chau to reach the Islands,” he added. Today, we are sending another team of 15-16 that includes policemen, anthropologists, academics with good knowledge of tribal rituals and the forest department officials in a Coast Guard ship,” he said. “One team of officers already went there day before yesterday (Wednesday) and returned. Police have so far used a helicopter and a ship to get close to the protected island but failed to spot Chau's body or identify the place where he was killed. “The biggest challenge is to initiate any connect.”Ĭhau was killed by arrows fired by the Sentinelese people last week after he illegally went ashore in an apparent attempt to convert the tribe to Christianity. The officials have also sought the expertise of anthropologists and tribal welfare specialists to understand the worldview of the isolated tribespeople, hoping it would allow them to access the remains of Chau.
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