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In excerpts from his diary, John Allen Chau, the American man allegedly killed by members of the Sentinel isolationist tribe on a tiny, remote island in the Bay of Bengal, spoke of his return to the island to continue his conversion attempts. even after a tribe member shot him with a bow and arrow, piercing a Bible that he was carrying.
In the pages left to fishermen who facilitated his trip to the island, his reflections clearly indicate his desire to convert the tribe.
"Lord, is this island the last fortress of Satan where no one has heard or even had the chance to hear your name?" he wrote.
His notes indicate that he knew the trip was illegal and described how the small fishing boat had transported him to the isolated island in the guise of darkness, avoiding patrols.
"God himself was hiding from the Coast Guard and many patrols," he writes.
The seven locals who facilitated the trip were stopped.
Deliberate isolation
The Sentinels live in complete isolation from the isolated island of the Andaman Archipelago, and have been for tens of thousands of years. Indian law protects the tribe and its home in order to preserve their way of life and protect them from modern diseases because of lack of immunity.
A little over a dozen people would live officially on this isolated island, located about 50 km west of Port Blair, capital of the Andaman Archipelago and Nicobar, Indian Territory.
They represent some of the last people on the planet whose way of life has not been disturbed by modern civilization.
The island is a protected area and people are not allowed to travel within 5 nautical miles of it after incidents of aggressive behavior towards strangers have been observed. In 2006, two local fishermen were killed by the tribes.
& # 39; My God, I do not want to die & # 39;
Dependra Pathak, chief executive officer of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, told CNN that Chau had made several trips to the island, returning at least twice aboard the fishing boat.
The boat stopped 500-700 meters from the island and (Chau) used a canoe to reach the coast of the island, and returned later in the day with arrow wounds. , the) broke his canoe.
"Then he came back to the boat while swimming, he did not come back on the 17th, the fishermen then saw the members of the tribe dragging their body."
On board, he wrote a last note to his family.
"You may think I'm crazy about all this, but I think it's worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people," he said. "My God, I do not want to die."
Although fishermen said they saw members of the tribe drag Chau's body on the beach before burying him in the sand, his mother, Lynda Adams-Chau, told the post that she thought he was still alive.
When asked why, she replied, "My prayers."
History of aggression against foreigners
Chau is not the first person to be a victim of Sentinelese after being introduced to their island, on which it is forbidden to strangers to land.
In 2006, members of the tribe killed two poachers who were fishing illegally in the waters around North Sentinel Island after their boat ran aground, according to the tribal non-profit organization Survival International.
Two years ago, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, a group member was photographed on a beach on the island, shooting arrows at a helicopter sent to check their well-being.
Shipments were often made on the island in the 1980s and 1990s, where gifts were often left to its inhabitants, but these have since declined.
According to the 2011 Indian census, there would only be 15 sentinels left on the island. According to the country's Department of Tribal Affairs, the Indian government has remained true to its policy of preventing poachers from entering the North Sentinel Island.
