When John Allen Chau approached the islanders to tell them of the love of his god, an arrow met his Bible. The deeply religious Christian Chau withdrew - but he did not give up. He approached again. And found death.

What reads like a centuries-old account of an obsessed missionary is said to have happened to a 27-year-old American just over a week ago - other sources indicate his age at 26: John Allen Chau of Washington State wanted on Andaman Island Apparently proselytizing North Sentinel in the Indian Ocean, trying to talk to the aborigines, bringing them gifts - a small football, fishing line, and scissors - and losing his life.

How exactly is not clear. Fishermen who had taken him only watched the aborigines burying his body on the beach days later.

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Killed on island: Danger detected, danger ignored

What is clear, however, is that Chau is not the first to approach the island in recent years and has not returned: in 2006, two Indian fishermen on the island had unintentionally come too close and were killed by Sentinelese. Already in the seventies, a documentary filmmaker had been shot at with arrows, one hit him in the leg.

How many people live on North Sentinel, what language they speak, you do not know all that. The Sentinelese have been avoiding contact with the outside world for thousands of years, and according to Indian law, they must maintain a distance of five kilometers to their territories - for the protection of indigenous and foreign alike.

Chau did not abide by the law. He held to God.

And what is now known about the case, sounds as if Chau had been aware of the danger he exposed himself: According to the Indian authorities, he arrived in mid-October in the region and was preparing for another trip to North on another island Sentinel ago. It was not his first visit to the area, he had been there in 2015 and 2016.

Video: US tourist killed on Indian island

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DPA

With the help of a friend, Chau is said to have paid over $ 300 for the trip to fishermen, and they brought him out in the dark. Chau understood, as a sign of God, that her boat had not been intercepted by the Indian authorities. In his notes he left with the fishermen, he wrote: "God has protected me and camouflaged me from the Coast Guard and the Navy." Jesus gave him the strength to go to the most forbidden places on earth.

One of the first attempts to approach the island ended with that arrow in the Bible; apparently shot down by a young native. "Why did a little kid have to shoot me today?" He noted, before trying again the next morning to approach North Sentinel in a kayak. According to the fishermen, he was shot at with arrows, had to turn around, but tried again and again.

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Isolated peoples: Alone in the jungle

Chaus father said on Thursday his Christian faith had comforted him after learning of his son's death. The family wrote in a post on Chaus Instagram page: "He loved God, life, helped the needy and felt nothing but love for the Sentinelese." The family also wrote that they forgive those who took Chau's life.

Seven people were arrested for helping Chau, including five fishermen, Chaus friend and a tour guide. The Indian authorities are currently investigating who might have helped Chau on his illegal journey. In addition, they are looking for a way to recover Chau's body.

"God, I do not want to die," Chau wrote in his notes. "Would it be wiser to go and let someone else continue?"

"No," he answered himself.