Indian authorities are struggling to recover an American missionary feared to be killed on an isolated island

Pathak said that there were many things to consider before entering the island, including the psychology of its residents.

"We must also keep in mind the legal requirements when conducting the operation.We also study the case of 2006 where two local fishermen were killed.The bodies were found at that time. ", did he declare.

The Sentinels: the most isolated tribe in the world

The Sentinelese live in complete isolation from the distant North Sentinel Island for tens of thousands of years. The island, which is part of the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is about as big as Manhattan.

India has been protecting the island for decades to prevent the Sentinels from contracting modern diseases and keeping strangers alive.

Indian law does not allow people to travel within five nautical miles of the island and the Indian Navy patrol day and night.

And even though its inhabitants have no contact with the outside world, they are not far removed from other civilizations.

The island is only about 50 kilometers west of Port Blair, the territory capital known to tourists for its magnificent emerald beaches, history and sports water.

According to 2011 Indian census estimates, at least 15 Sentinels could live on the island.

He returned to his boat twice before disappearing

Traveling on a tourist visa, Chau arrived at the Andaman Islands and Nicobar in October with a mission: to preach to the Sentinels.

Indian authorities say that Chau was 27, but Mat Staver, founder of a Christian ministry with which Chau was involved while he was a student, gave Chau the age of 26.

He had visited this isolated island years ago and came back knowing that his mission was illegal and risky. Nevertheless, he wanted to know the way of life of the inhabitants of the island. He hoped to eventually share the gospel and perhaps translate the Bible, said a friend, John Middleton Ramsey.

He asked a friend in the area, an electronics engineer, to procure a boat and recruit others, several fishermen and an expert in water sports, who could help him.

He carefully planned his expedition and used a 13-page diary. to write his strategy, the steps he would take to reach the island and, later, some of his memories.

After paying about 350 dollars to the fishermen, the police said, the group boarded a "wooded boat equipped with engines" and returned to the island on the night of 15 November.

They stopped at a little less than a kilometer and waited in the dark. At one point in the morning, Chau "used a canoe to reach the coast of the island," Pathak said.

He returned later in the day with arrows wounds, police said.

But that did not discourage him.

He returned to the island the next day. We do not know what happened but "the (members of the tribe) broke his canoe" and he had no choice but to swim back to the water. boat.

At the third attempt of his mission, he did not return.

The fishermen claimed to have seen members of the tribe dragging his body, but the police were not able to independently verify Chau's death. Authorities believe that he was killed.

The seven locals who facilitated the trip were stopped.

His diary reveals his last days

In excerpts from his diary, Chau described his stay on the island and the challenges he faced. A member of the tribe fired at him with a bow and arrow, piercing a Bible that he was carrying, he wrote in his diary, pages whose mother had shared the pages with the Washington Post.

"I shouted:" My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you, "he wrote. Shortly after, a young member of the tribe shot him, according to him.

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 that the trip was illegal and described how the small fishing boat had transported him to the isolated island in the guise of darkness, thus avoiding patrols.

"God himself was hiding from the Coast Guard and many patrols," he writes.

Before leaving the boat for the last time, Chau wrote a last note to his family and passed it on to the fishermen.

"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."

"Please, do not be angry at them or against God if I get killed, but please, live your life in obedience to all that he's called you and I will see you again when you pass through the veil.

He loved Jesus

Raised in Vancouver, Washington, Chau was first attracted to nature after discovering a copy of "Robinson Crusoe" while he was in elementary school, he said in a statement. an article published several years ago in The Outbound Collective, a website and an application that helps people discover nature. .

According to his article, he and his brother painted their faces with wild blackberry juice and ran in their garden with bows and spears sticks.

Chau is a graduate of Roberts Oral University, where he is involved in Covenant Journey, the Christian ministry that takes students to immersion in Israel, according to Staver, the group's president.

Chau traveled to Israel with Covenant Journey and South Africa for missions with a group to Oral Roberts, Staver said.

"John loved people and loved Jesus and was willing to give his life to share Jesus with the people of North Sentinel Island," Staver said in a press release. "Since high school, John wanted to go to North Sentinel to share Jesus with this Aboriginal people."

In the Outward Collective article, Chau talked about his previous adventures, including hiking at the foot of Table Mountain in the state of Washington during the Christmas holidays, at the university. .

Chau said his return to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was at the top of his to-do list in the adventure, the article said.

He is not the first killed on the island

Chau is not the first person to be a victim of Sentinelese after being introduced to their island, which is illegal for foreigners.

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 ashore, according to Survival International.

Following the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a group member was photographed on a beach on the island, shooting arrows at a helicopter sent to check their well-being.

The first contacts were made by the British in the late 1800s. Despite their attempts to hide, six individuals from the tribe were captured and taken to the main island of the Andaman Archipelago. Two captured adults died of illness while the four children were sent away – perhaps also infected with diseases for which the island's immune system was not equipped.

Anthropological expeditions were made to tribal groups of the chain of islands in the 1980s and 1990s, and "gift trips" continued until the mid-1990s, but all contacts now stopped.

The Indian government has adopted a "control" policy to prevent poachers from entering (North Sentinel Island), according to the Indian Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Clashes between tribes are usually violent

The tribe of Andaman Island is one of the last isolated groups in the world.

Jonathan Mazower of Survival International, which campaigns for the protection of isolated tribes, says there are about 100 tribes of this type in the world. Most are found in the Amazon rainforest, but there are many in New Guinea, as well as in forests and islands elsewhere.

In case of contact, this can be fatal – tribal members frequently attack intruders and may also be victims of common diseases such as influenza, for which they are not immune. "They are often very afraid of strangers – and with very good reasons," said Mazower.

"Sometimes they will have in their collective memory a massacre, a violent incident, a disease or an epidemic – so often, there are good reasons for these tribes to want nothing to do" with the outside world, Mazower said at CNN.

While the Sentinels are protected by Indian laws that prohibit illegal intrusion on their island, most isolated people do not have the same fortune, their habitats being invaded by unwanted aliens.

"The most important challenge, by far, is to protect their land," Mazower said. "It's essential. If their lands are protected, which is their right under international law, there is no reason for them not to continue to survive and prosper.