Finding no danger, the team then approached them up to the coast and gifted coconut to them by hands. Our team started dropping coconut in the seashore, which the Sentinelese, consisting of few males and females collected. Then we boarded a small dingi and ventured neared to the shore. We reached the spot on 4th January and saw some tribes near the seashores. Narrating her experience, she said a 12 member expedition team headed by then Tribal Welfare Director, S Awaradi had sailed for the Sentinel Island on 3rd January 1991. The woman anthropologist said that on two occasions, they could successfully contact the tribes but in the third occasion, due to inclement weather, the Sentinelese did not come to the seashore and the team had to back off. The last time the world heard about the Sentinel islanders was in 2006 when two fishermen were killed by the primitive natives after their boat had strayed towards the island. The Sentinelese people are among the tribes that survived the tsunami of 2004 without any help from the outside world. Information pouring in after the death of the American national revealed that very few trips had been made to the island, about 102 km from capital Port Blair, in the past. ![]() North Sentinel island has been declared no go area by a law. Occasional reconnaissance missions from boats anchored more than an arrow's throw away are carried out to check whether all is well with the Sentinelese.Killing of a US national John Allen Chau, 27, last month in course of his illegal trip to the North Sentinel island, reignited peoples interest about the handful of aboriginals as per the 2011 census. The Indian government has decided not to make any attempts to contact the Sentinelese (such attempts were made in the past). The Sentinelese are also known to have the ability to build boats and fish in shallow waters. The rights group also says that the Sentinelese survive by hunting or gathering food. But the boat's anchor rope broke and the boat drifted to the island's shores. ![]() The fishermen had moored their boat near the island and had slept off. The extent of that damage - if any - still remains unknown.Īccording to the Survival International, the Sentinelese killed two Indian fishermen who inadvertently landed on the island. The helicopters flew over the North Sentinel Island in order to assess the damage the Sentinelese may have suffered due to the tsunami. So much so that during the 2004 tsunami, the Sentinelese attempted to shoot arrows at helicopters of the Indian Coast Guard. The numbers could be higher since the census was done from a distance.Īccording to Survival International, a global rights group that campaigns for tribal people, the Sentinelese "vigorously reject" contact with the outside world. The 2011 Census of India counted 15 Sentinelese people on the North Sentinel Island. In 2017, the government had clarified that the Sentinelese are identified as an "aboriginal tribe" and that videos showing them cannot be uploaded on social media or the internet. They cannot be prosecuted and any contact with them or entry into areas inhabited by them is illegal.Įven taking videos of the Sentinelese people is prohibited. The Indian law protects the Sentinelese people, whose number is estimated to be under 50. The North Sentinel Island, where Chau's body is still lying, is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous tribe that furiously rejects outside contact. ![]() A group of seven fishermen agreed to help and took to a forest located on the island. He was also looking for "adventure", the source said.Īccording to SP Deepak Yadav, Chau contacted some fishermen in order to reach the North Sentinel Island. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment," the spokesperson said.ĭeepak Yadav, a Superintendent of Police in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Criminal Investigation Department, told India Today TV that Chau reached the union territory on October 16.Ĭhau, sources said, was a missionary who wanted to meet the Sentinelese in order to convert them to Christianity. "When a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts. The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the US Department of State," a US Consulate spokesperson said. "We are aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 27-year-old John Allen Chau was a Christian missionary who wanted to convert the Sentinelese tribe
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