Indian police are warning that there are significant difficulties in recovering the body of John Allen Chau, the missionary killed last week by an isolated tribe at North Sentinel Island.
Further details from Chau’s diary have meanwhile revealed that he was able to tell the Sentinelese people, believed to have lived in isolation for thousands of years, that Jesus loves them in one brief encounter preceding his killing.
Indian officials have “put on hold” efforts to retrieve the body of an American missionary reportedly killed by an endangered tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar islands last week.
A senior official told the BBC it was done so as not to disturb the protected Sentinelese tribes-people.
John Allen Chau is said to have been killed with arrows when he landed on North Sentinel island on 17 November. His body is still on the island and attempts so far to retrieve it have been unsuccessful.
The official, who did not want to be named, said a boat was sent to the area on Tuesday morning, but it was “only to check the situation”.
“In the initial days several attempts were made to find the body after the tribesmen were seen dragging it. We know the general direction of where it was taken, but we still don’t know where exactly it is,” he said.
The decision to halt the search was taken because the exercise “is too risky” and also after “objections” were raised by various groups, he added.