An American tourist named Josh Allen Chau was visiting a remote island near India when he was ruthlessly killed by a tribe with bows and arrows.

The island, named the North Sentinel Island, has many restrictions from the Indian government due to the tribe. Contact with the tribe is illegal to “protect their indigenous way of life and prevent the spread of diseases,” reported by the Indian government.  

Chau is a preacher, and was on a missionary trip in hopes of evangelizing the tribe. He was noted as having a “strong desire to meet the tribe” by his fellows and eventually wanted to preach to them. He was called a “soccer coach, traveller, and writer” by those that were close to him. Chau’s Instagram account notably has 22,000 followers of pictures of his personal life and numerous travels to different parts of the world.

Seven other fishermen had gone with him on the trip and were arrested after returning to the island, and restated what they saw on the Sentinel Island. One recalls that they saw “the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body.” Chau was apparently interacting with some of the tribesmen and went as far as to offer a football and a fish. However, the tribesmen became angry and “shot an arrow at him which apparently hit a book he was carrying,” noted by one of his travelers. Chau was reported to have been killed on the shore of the island.

Chau’s death definitely stirred up controversy over whether the Indian Navy is successfully doing it’s job of not allowing people to visit the dangerous island.