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Andaman and Nicobar Islands' police chief HGS Dhaliwal told news agency AFP that "an American citizen" had been presented before the local court and was remanded for three days for "further interrogation".

It was the first time a tsunami had wreaked such havoc in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the scale of the tragedy was overwhelming.

Mr Justin, an anthropologist, has grown up in the Andaman and Nicobar islands straddling India’s east coast.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to some of the most isolated and vulnerable tribes in the world, with five groups classified as "particularly vulnerable."

India, which administers the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, controls access to the northwestern entrance to the Malacca Strait — a shipping channel vital to China and other East Asian states.