India: American arrested for illegally entering dangerous island where isolated tribe lives

An American tourist was arrested in India after he illegally entered North Sentinel, an island where an isolated tribe has lived for tens of thousands of years and has even murdered outsiders who got too close.

Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, filmed himself landing on the island to get a close look at one of the last remaining tribes still disconnected from modern civilization.

Polyakov arrived equipped with a can of Diet Coke and a coconut to deliver as an offering to the tribesmen.

Indian authorities claimed that this was Polyakov's third attempt to enter the island after failing twice, once in October 2024 and again in early 2025.

Indian Police claimed that upon reaching the island, Polyakov stayed in his boat off the coast for an hour and whistled to attract the attention of the Sentinelese, but got no response. He then disembarked on the beach, where he remained for about five minutes. He left the offering he had brought for the inhabitants on the sand and collected sand samples.

Who are the Sentinelese and why is it forbidden to enter the island?

The Sentinelese tribe is estimated to consist of about 150 members and has remained on North Sentinel, which is part of the Andaman Islands, for about 60,000 years.

According to Indian law, people who do not belong to the tribe must stay at a minimum distance of five kilometers away from the small island for the purpose of not only taking care of the physical well-being of the curious, but also so that the locals preserve their way of life and can avoid catching diseases of the modern world, since due to their prolonged isolation, some of these ailments could even end the lives of all the inhabitants of the island.

As mentioned, the Sentinelese, whose customs and language still remain a mystery, have a history of hostile attitudes toward those who have wanted to approach.

In 2006, they killed two fishermen whose boat had run aground there, and a well-known photograph released by the Indian Coast Guard some two decades ago shows a Sentinelese pointing a bow and arrow at a helicopter flying overhead.

Also, in 2018, a 27-year-old Christian missionary from the United States named John Allen Chau illegally entered the island and was shot and killed with arrows immediately after landing there. A group of fishermen watched as the Sentinelese tied a rope around his neck and dragged his body away. The body was never recovered.