Anthropologist Weighs In On ORU Student's Death

We are hearing from an Anthropology professor tonight after a former ORU student and current missionary was killed on a remote island populated by a violent tribe.

The Sentinelese tribe is deeply suspicious of outsiders and attack anyone who comes onto their beaches. John Allen Chau was a Christian missionary trying to preach to people living on an isolated island between India and southeast Asia, but he was breaking a law by even being on the island.

"He would have known before, you know like if he had talked to people, that they are aggressive. They are throwing bows (and arrows) and they are throwing spears, he may get killed. And yet he decided to take his boat there and go just in front of them," said Delhi University’s Anthropology Professor P.C. Yoshi.

Chau studied at Oral Roberts University and ORU President William Wilson said in a statement on Twitter Wednesday

"The story of ORU alumnus John Chau's death at the hands of an isolated people group has gone around the world today, not surprising that John would reach out to the unreached in order to share God's love but we are deeply saddened to hear of his death."

Police and experts say Chau was killed by islanders after paying fishermen to take him to the island.

"They I think are the very, very precious citizens of our country. And we should respect their freedom, we should respect their rights, and we should respect their life also. Because if I go there, I am a product of so many antibiotics, so I am carrying so many germs with me. If I even shake hands with them, I may, you know, pass thousands of hundreds of bacteria to them,” said Yoshi.

Seven fishermen have reportedly been arrested for helping the 26-year-old Chau reach North Sentinel Island.