Thursday, December 30 2004 15:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Port Blair: Despite the local administration expressing hope about their well-being, there was uncertainty over the fate of the highly endangered aboriginal tribes of Andaman and Nicobar islands, the Jarwas, Onges and Sentinalese.

Unconfirmed reports in Port Blair said that only 40 out of a total of 98 Onges were found by the local administration who surveyed the Little Andaman, the home of the Onges.

The sources said that there were great possibilities that the Shompens, another endangered aboriginal tribe, being affected.

The Shompens, numbering only about 150 lived on Greater Nicobar Island in the extreme South located barely 115 nautical miles from the epicentre of Sunday's 8.9 magnitude temblor.

They said that Jarwas, who have a population of around 220 and inhabit the Tugong Creek in North and Middle Andaman, might also have been hit.

Similarly the Sentinelese in North Sentinal Island, who are hostile to the civilised world, might not have been spared by nature's fury unless they had moved to high ground immediately after the tsunami struck.

Lt Governor Ram Kapse, however, hoped that all aboriginal tribes were safe while emphasising that they had lived with the sea for ages and knew how to survive.

The Lt Governor, who has constituted an 18-member team to assess the situation in the islands inhabited by the primitive tribes, said that a clear picture would emerge as soon as the team's report was received.

But experts dealing with these tribes say that the Onges, Jarwas and Shompens leave their homes in deep forests for the sea beach to catch fish and turtles in the early morning hours when the tsunami struck the island.

The experts also contended that even if they had lived with the sea for ages, they could not have known of the tsunami, which is alien to this part of the globe.

The aborigines of Andaman and Nicobar are the most endangered tribes in the world and considered modern world's only link to ancient civilisation.

A group of scientists of Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) sailed for the Middle and South Andamans yesterday (Dec 29) to ascertain the welfare of Jarwas, one of the six aboriginal tribes who were its inhabitants since the Mesolithic period.