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The Andaman Islands police furrowed a remote area where tribal members were seen burying the body of an American adventurer and a Christian missionary after apparently killing him with arrows.
The Indian authorities are trying to recover the remains of John Allen Chau, 26, who was killed by residents of the northern Sentinels. The latter apparently shot at him with arrows and buried his body on the beach earlier this month.
Police on the islands of the Bay of Bengal said Saturday that she needed to consult experts to know "the nuances of the behavior and behavior of the group, especially when faced with this type of violent behavior."
On Friday, during a survey of the area around the island, officials sailed near the beach and spotted four or five residents of Northern Sentinel Island moving into the area. They studied their behavior for several hours, said Dependra Pathak, chief executive officer of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where North Sentinel Island is located.
"We have more or less identified the site and the region in general," he said.
Friday's visit was the second boat trip of the week by a team of policemen and officials from the forestry, tribal social services and coastguard departments, Pathak said.
The fishermen who took Chau to the shore saw members of the tribe shoot and bury his body on the morning of November 17.
Officials do not usually visit the North Sentinel area, where people live as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. The only contacts, occasional "gift" visits in which bananas and coconuts were passed by small teams of officials and scholars who remained in the waves, took place years ago.
Indian ships monitor the waters around the island, trying to ensure that strangers do not approach the Sentinelese, who have repeatedly indicated that they wish to remain alone.
Chau, described by his friends as a fervent Christian, went "to share the love of Jesus," said Mary Ho, international leader of All Nations. The Missouri-based organization participated in Chau's training, discussed the risks with him, and sent him on a mission to support him in his "life job," she added.
"He wanted to have a long-term relationship and, if possible, to be accepted by them and live among them," she said.
Police said Chau knew that the Sentinels resisted any contact with strangers, throwing arrows and spears at passing helicopters and killing fishermen drifting on their shores. The notes that Chau left clearly indicate that he knew that he could be killed, police said.
"I do not want to die," wrote Chau, who seemed to want to bring Christianity to the islanders. "Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else go on. No, I do not think so."
Chau paid the fishermen to take him near North Sentinel, using a kayak to row ashore and bringing gifts, including a football and a fish.
The Indian government lifted the restrictions on travel to the island in August, said Ho. She said that she could not say why Chau had gotten there as he had done but that he had carefully planned his trip.
All nations contacted the US State Department, Ho added, not sure if it would be possible to recover Chau's body.
"We are just in mourning and shocked by her death," she said. "At the same time, we consider it a real honor to have worked with him, to be part of his journey."
Scholars know almost nothing about the island, including how many people live there or what language they speak. The Andamans once had similar groups, which would have been migrants from Africa and Southeast Asia, settled in the chain of the island centuries ago. But their numbers have dropped considerably in the last century because of diseases, intermarriage and migration.
Five fishermen, a friend of Chau and a local tourist guide were arrested for helping Chau.
