The American adventurer and Christian missionary John Allen Chau followed his convictions in one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

The inhabitants of this remote island are so hostile and isolated that the authorities are now reluctant to go there to recover his body.

According to Indian police, Chau, who would be 26 or 27, was killed last week during an unauthorized visit to North Sentinel, where people live like their ancestors did there are thousands of years and where foreigners are suspected and attacked. Police said Chau had apparently received arrows and was buried on the beach.

They consult experts before deciding the procedure to follow to recover his body.

"This is a difficult proposition," said Dependra Pathak, police chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Indian Islands, where North Sentinel is located. "We must see what is possible, taking the greatest care of the group's sensitivity and legal requirements."

Although the Indian government's regulations forbid any interaction with the Presidia, Chau was determined to visit the island and paid $ 325 to the fishermen to drive him near it, officials said. He then paddled up to the shore, bringing a Bible and gifts including fish, a football and a fishing line.

Pathak called the trip a "lost adventure", adding, "He certainly knew that everything was forbidden."

PC Joshi, a professor of anthropology at the University of Delhi, who studied the islands – hundreds of miles from the Indian coast – pointed out that the local population has little resistance to many diseases from outside and that a simple thing like the flu could kill them.

The fishermen said that on his first day last Thursday, Chau had traded with tribal men – who survive by hunting, fishing and harvesting wild plants – until they get angry and upset. shoot him an arrow. He then returned to the fishing boat waiting at a safe distance.

That night, Chau wrote about his visit and left his notes to the fishermen. He returned to North Sentinel the next day. It is unclear what followed, but on the morning of the third day, fishermen saw members of a tribe pulling Chau's body along the beach and burying his body there.

Pathak said the fishermen then returned to Port Blair, capital of the chain of islands, and announced the news to a friend of Chau, who informed the family. Pathak said seven people were arrested for helping Chau organize his illegal trip, including five fishermen, the friend and a local tourist guide.

This is not the first time that tragedies have struck those who have landed at North Sentinel. In 2006, two Indian fishermen were killed by islanders after their boat broke loose and drifted away. Indian media reported that the authorities had not investigated or prosecuted anyone.

Chau's wish since high school to go to North Sentinel was to share Christianity with indigenous peoples, said Mat Staver, founder and president of Covenant Journey, a program that offers visiting university students in Israel the opportunity to assert their Christian faith.

Chau, a native of Washington State and having attended Oral Roberts University, attended this program in 2015. Authorities said he had traveled to the Andaman Islands this year- there and in 2016.

"He did not go there for simple adventures," said Staver. "I have no doubt that it was to bring them the gospel of Jesus."

Staver said that Chau's latest notes to his family on Friday told them that they might think he was crazy, but that he felt it was worth it and asked that they not be upset if he was killed.

An Instagram page under the name johnachau contains several photos from outside sites and provides a list that reads as follows: Let's follow the path. Wilderness EMT. PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. Outgoing collective explorer. Ambassador Jerky Perky. Survivor Snakebite.

On the page, there is also a letter from the Chau family that says in part: "It was a beloved son, a brother, an uncle and a best friend for us. For others, he was a Christian missionary, a nature EMT, an international football coach, and a mountaineer. He loved God, life, helping those in need and loving only for the sentinel people. We forgive those responsible for his death. ''

Contribute: The Associated Press

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