Members of the world's most isolated tribe, the Sentinelese
of the Andaman Islands, have killed two fishermen who had
illegally approached their island. The Sentinelese, who were
photographed after the December 2004 tsunami firing an arrow at a
helicopter over their island, have resisted contact with the outside
world for up to 60,000 years. They are under threat from poachers
illegally fishing and diving for lobster around their island.
Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, Contact with the outside
world could very quickly wipe out this unique and vulnerable tribe. The
local administration must ensure that the Sentinelese are left alone as
long as that is their wish – and what happened last month made it very
clear that it is. These tragic deaths could have been avoided if the
authorities had been enforcing the law.'
The tribe killed the two men, Sunder Raj (48) and Pandit Tiwari (52),
on 26 January after they had slept overnight in their boat near North Sentinel
Island. It is illegal to go within five kilometres of the island, in
order to protect the Sentinelese from exploitation, violence, and
diseases to which they have no immunity. But increasing numbers of
people from neighbouring islands visit the island to dive for lobster
close to the shore and to hunt pigs on the island, depriving the tribe
of essential foodstuffs.
The Sentinelese tribe is thought to number between 50 and 200 people.
Wreckage salvagers killed many in the late 1980s and early 1990s when
they visited the island with guns to try to salvage iron and other
goods from a shipwreck.
The related Jarawa
tribe stopped resisting contact with outsiders in 1998. They are now
plagued by intruders on their land stealing the animals they hunt,
bringing in alcohol and sexually exploiting Jarawa women.
Samir Acharya of local environmental organisation SANE said today, The
Indian Coast Guard and Police must be commended in this case for
resisting local pressure to retrieve the men's bodies, thereby avoiding
further contact with the Sentinelese.'
