The Indian government has had strict laws that ensure that they are isolated. They even rejected outside help after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, throwing spears and arrows at a rescue helicopter that flew above. In 2006, the tribe killed two fishermen who strayed on to the island. The wreckage of the ship is still visible in satellite images. The crew were rescued after a week by an Indian helicopter. In the 1981, a cargo ship MV Primrose grounded on the reef surrounding North Sentinel Island. The only man believed to have succeeded in establishing friendly contact with the tribe was an Indian anthropologist Triloknath Pandit in 1991. They have repeatedly, aggressively made it clear that they want to be isolated. Since the 1960s, there have been a handful of efforts to reach out to the tribe but all have largely failed. Even a common flu virus carried by a visitor could wipe out the entire tribe. They are very vulnerable to germs since they have not had contact with the outside world. It is said they have made little to no advancement in the over 60,000 years and still live very primitive lives, surviving mainly on fish and coconuts. Their numbers are believed to be less than 150 and as low as 40. They live on an island 50 km west of Port Blair. Their language is incomprehensible to even other tribes in the region. The Sentinelese are assumed to be direct descendants of the earliest humans who emerged from Africa.
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