American Man Arrested After Attempting To Visit Isolated Sentinelese Tribe With Can Of Cola As “Offering”

The man, a 24-year-old US national called Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, was taken into custody by India’s Crime Investigation Department after reaching the northeastern shore of North Sentinel Island at 10 am on March 29, according to The New Indian Express.

He reportedly set sail in a small boat from Kurma Dera beach on South Andaman Island at 1 am that morning, embarking on a treacherous 38-kilometer (23-mile) journey across the sea.

Police said he arrived carrying a coconut and a can of cola as “offerings for the Sentinelese”. They claim he lingered in his boat near the island’s shore for an hour, sounding a whistle in hopes of drawing attention from the Sentinelese, but no response came. Briefly stepping onto the island for no more than five minutes, he placed his “offerings” on the shore, collected sand samples, and recorded a video before returning to his boat.

Access to North Sentinel Island is strictly prohibited by Indian authorities to protect the Sentinelese, an Indigenous tribe in voluntary isolation on the island. They are nomadic, hunter-gatherer people who have lived on North Sentinel Island for thousands of years. Based on reports from people who have observed the island from afar, it’s believed that 100 or so individuals live on the island, split into three main groups.

Given their extreme isolation from the wider world, next to nothing is known about how they live. However, they have made it very clear that they wish to be left alone. 

The group made headlines in 2018 when John Allen Chau, a Christian missionary from the US, illegally intruded onto their island, where he was killed by a bow and arrow. There was another incident in 2006 when two Indian fishermen, Sunder Raj and Pandit Tiwari, had moored their boat near North Sentinel Island to sleep after poaching in the waters around the island. Their boat drifted ashore and the sailors were killed by the Sentinelese.

In the wake of the devastating tsunami that rocked the Indian Ocean in December 2014, the Indian National Coast used a helicopter to scout the island to see if the community needed assistance. All they saw was an individual stalking their helicopter and attempting to strike it with arrows.

These incidents followed decades of attempted contact by the Indian government and others. Some of these relations are believed to have resulted in the Sentinelese falling ill from diseases to which they have no immunity.

Polyakov’s alleged attempt to reach North Sentinel Island has reignited concerns about the effectiveness of restrictions designed to protect the Sentinelese. While no direct contact was seemingly made, the incident shows that individuals are still managing to reach the island. Indigenous and tribal rights groups argue this should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to strengthen enforcement and safeguard one of the world’s most vulnerable tribes before it’s too late.

“It beggars belief that someone could be that reckless and idiotic. This person’s actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk. It’s very well known by now that uncontacted peoples have no immunity to common outside diseases like flu or measles, which could completely wipe them out,” Caroline Pearce, Director of Survival International, said in a statement.

“It’s good news that the man in this latest incident has been arrested, but deeply disturbing that he was reportedly able to get onto the island in the first place. The Indian authorities have a legal responsibility to ensure that the Sentinelese are safe from missionaries, social media influencers, people fishing illegally in their waters, and anyone else who may try to make contact with them.”