An American tourist has been killed by an isolated tribe on an Indian island which is barred to visitors, police officials have confirmed.
The man, identified as John Allen Chau, 27, was ferried to North Sentinel Island - one of the islands in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar chain - by fisherman five days ago.
He had reportedly visited the island before and wanted to meet the Sentinelese tribes to preach Christianity, reports Andaman Sheeka.
The fishermen said they saw Chau being attacked with bows and arrows after he landed on the beach.
The tribe then dragged him onto the beach and the fishermen last saw him half-buried in the sand.
"He tried to reach the Sentinel island on November 14 but could not make it. Two days later he went well prepared. He left the dingy midway and took a canoe all by himself to the island," a source told news agency AFP.
"He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body. They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the sea shore," the source said.
When they got back to Port Blair, they told a local preacher, who was a friend of Chau's, what had happened.
"A murder case has been registered," one of the officials told Reuters.
Police have launched an investigation, Deepak Yadav, a police official in the island chain in the Bay of Bengal, said in a statement late last night.
"We are aware of reports concerning a U.S. citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," a spokeswoman for the United States consulate in India's southern city of Chennai said in an email.
"When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts," she added, but declined to provide further details over privacy concerns.
One of the police sources said Chau, who had made previous visits to the islands, had a strong desire to meet the Sentinelese.
He reportedly made a failed attempt to get to the island on November 14.
Chau hired a fishing dinghy and, aided by the fishermen, reached the vicinity of the island on November 16, before transferring to a canoe, the official said.
His body, spotted the following day by the fishermen on their return, has not yet been retrieved, the official added.
The fishermen who took him to the island have been arrested.