By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2025-04-04 16:16:39 | Updated at 2025-04-05 06:31:40
16 hours ago
An American tourist has been arrested after allegedly traveling to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal and attempting to contact one of the world’s most isolated groups of indigenous people.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, is accused of landing on North Sentinel Island in an apparent move to link with the remote Sentinelese tribe, filming his visit and leaving a can of Coke and a coconut on the shore.
North Sentinel Island is often described as the “hardest place to visit in the world”. It is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal which also includes South Sentinel Island.
The accused allegedly took a single-seat boat to the restricted area – the same spot American missionary John Allen Chau was shot with an arrow after he tried to convert the tribe to Christianity.
Survival International, a group that advocates for the rights of tribal people, said the alleged act endangered the man’s own life and the lives of the tribe, calling it “deeply disturbing.”
Maxar closeup satellite imagery of North Sentinel Island, which is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. The island is a protected area of India. It is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous tribe in voluntary isolation. Satellite image (c) 2024 Maxar Technologies via Getty
The U.S. said it was aware and “monitoring the situation.”
Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ police chief HGS Dhaliwal told news agency AFP “an American citizen” had been presented before the local court and was remanded for three days for “further interrogation”.
AFP, citing Dhaliwal, said the “thrill-seeking” YouTuber blew a whistle off the shore of the island in a bid to attract the attention of the uncontacted indigenous people for about an hour.
Polyakov, whose father is of Ukrainian descent, then landed for about five minutes, leaving his offerings, collecting samples and recording a video.
The police chief told AFP: “A review of his GoPro camera footage showed his entry and landing into the restricted North Sentinel Island.”
Survival International describes the Sentinelese as “the most isolated Indigenous people in the world” living on an island around the size of Manhattan.
The BBC estimates some 200 people belong to the tribe, adding it was “impossible” to know its true number.
