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Tragic story of man who tried to contact ‘most dangerous tribe in the world’ on island people are forbidden from visiting

Home> News> World News

Updated 20:55 4 Oct 2024 GMT+1Published 13:51 4 Oct 2024 GMT+1

Tragic story of man who tried to contact ‘most dangerous tribe in the world’ on island people are forbidden from visiting

John Chau visited the island in the hopes of converting the tribe to Christianity

Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton

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Featured Image Credit: John Chau/Facebook/Survival International

Topics: Travel, Religion, History, Nature, News, World News

Niamh Shackleton
Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton is an experienced journalist for UNILAD, specialising in topics including mental health and showbiz, as well as anything Henry Cavill and cat related. She has previously worked for OK! Magazine, Caters and Kennedy.

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A man who tried to contact a tribe that's said to be the most dangerous in the world suffered the consequences in doing so.

Back in 2018, John Chau set out to visit a mysterious and remote island off the Indian Ocean.

While in high school, Chau learnt about the Sentinelese tribe who live on an island called North Sentinel Island.

To this day it's said that the Sentinelese people haven't been contacted by those from the outside world, which largely comes down to the fact that they're not very welcoming of strangers.

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They've been known to kill trespassers on the island, and have been hailed as the world's most dangerous tribe with this in mind.

But this didn't stop Chau from attempting to make contact with them as he hoped he could convert them into his religion of Christianity.

Knowing the risks, apparently Chau told his loved ones in a heartbreaking letter to 'not be angry at [the tribe] or at God if [he got] killed'.

Taking a leaf out of the books of those who have previously tried to contact the Sentinelese people, Chau first tried to prove that he was no threat to them by giving them gifts such as fish - but he was met with a series of arrows being aimed at him.

John Chau travelled to North Sentinel Island (John Allen Chau/Instagram)
John Chau travelled to North Sentinel Island (John Allen Chau/Instagram)

This didn't deter Chau though, and he went on attempt to get onto the island again.

Reportedly it was on his third try that Chau was sadly killed. The fisherman who were paid by Chau to help him get close to the island saw tribesmen drag a body along a beach and bury it, BBC News reported at the time.

They alerted police and took them back to the spot they thought Chau had been buried and were later arrested for aiding the young missionary get onto the remote island as it's illegal to do so.

North Sentinel Island is a protected area of India (Getty Stock)
North Sentinel Island is a protected area of India (Getty Stock)

A documentary about Chau's travels, in what could only be described as a suicide mission, has since been made and was released last year.

Titled The Mission, it was directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss and 'explores the death of American missionary John Allen Chau, who was killed by arrows while attempting to make contact with one of the world's most isolated Indigenous peoples'.

The film features interviews with those close to John, with one friend saying that what the late 26-year-old did was 'stupid and courageous'.

The National Geographic documentary is available to stream on Disney+.

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