NEW DELHI — Indian authorities have travelled repeatedly in recent days near the remote island where an American missionary was killed by people who have long resisted the outside world. But they have not set foot on North Sentinel Island since the killing, and it remains unclear if they will.
The director-general of police on the Andaman and Nicobar island groups, Dependera Pathak, said authorities don’t want to disturb the culture of the Sentinelese, who live largely as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. Almost nothing is known of their lives.
American John Allen Chau was killed by islanders in mid-November after paying fishermen to smuggle him to the island, where outsiders are effectively forbidden. The fishermen told authorities they saw the Sentinelese bury Chau’s his body on the beach.
Ashok Sharma, The Associated Press
