German yachtsman  Stefan Ramin may have been eaten by cannibals.

Last month, after travelling to the remote tropical island of Nuku Hiva with his girlfriend, Heike Dorsch.  He was last seen embarking on a goat hunt with a local man,  Henri Haiti.  

Haiti returned to camp alone, attacked Dorsch, tied her to a tree before disappearing into the forest.

Remains of a body, believed to be that of Ramin, were later found on a campfire in the bush. Police and French soldiers on the island have launched a manhunt for Haiti. 

As other islands in the South Seas, Nuku Hiva has a history of cannibalism.

The practise was widespread before European contact. Warriors would often eat the bodies of fallen enemies in order to take on their power, or 'mana', but it has also been claimed that people were eaten for food, rather than ritual.

A number of Christian ended up being eaten. The most famous was English missionary Thomas Baker, whose boiled shoe is on display in the Fiji Museum.

During Captain Cook's second trip to the South Pacific 10 members of the crew of the Adventure were killed and eaten in New Zealand, although Cook himself was not the victim of cannibals. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779, and his body was baked, but only so his bones could be removed. The indigenous people recognised him as a man of importance and the rituals his body went through were similar to those reserved for Hawaiian chiefs.

There were reports of cannibalism taking place in the highlands of Papua New Guinea during the 20th century, but the practice was thought to be long dead in Polynesia until the Ramin case came to light.

The islands are frequently visited by yachties, cruise ships and tour parties from Tahiti to the south. Or were until now

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