American YouTuber arrested for sneaking into restricted North Sentinel Island
An American tourist was detained for reportedly sneaking into the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island in India and allegedly leaving a coconut and a can of Diet Coke.
According to a CBS report, Indian police said that Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, a 24-year-old travel content creator, went to the secluded island to connect with the Sentinelese people, a tribe "believed to number only around 150."
However, both locals and foreigners are not allowed to go within three miles of the island to protect the Indigenous people from outside diseases and to help keep their way of life intact.
Local authorities noted that the American vlogger blew a whistle near North Sentinel Island for about an hour to get the tribe's attention.
Reports also said that he stayed on the island for about five minutes, leaving behind a Diet Coke and a coconut, taking sand samples, and recording a video before going.
Polyakov was now on a three-day remand for further interrogation after being presented before the local court after his arrest.
'Deeply disturbing'
In a statement, Survival International, a London-based charity that campaigns for the collective rights of Indigenous tribal and uncontacted people, described the incident as deeply disturbing, stating that Polyakov's actions "not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk."
"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," Survival International's Director Caroline Pearce said.
"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 director added.
Pearce also underscored that 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."
In 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese people after landing on their island to try to convert them to Christianity.
