World3 min(s) read
Published 10:07 17 Apr 2026 GMT
A YouTuber is facing up to five years in prison for trespassing onto the remote homeland of an isolated hunter-gatherer tribe.
To reach North Sentinel Island, part of India’s Andaman Islands, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov floated in a rubber dinghy for nine hours.
When he reached the island, the American content creator with Ukrainian heritage filmed himself leaving a coconut and a can of Diet Coca-Cola on the tropical shore.
The sugary gifts were intended to be a “peace offering” to the spear-wielding Sentinelese tribe.
However, the 25-year-old’s hour-long visit in March last year and unwanted presents could have had deadly consequences.
Polyakov reportedly tried to attract the Sentinelese tribe's attention by blowing a whistle; fortunately for the YouTuber, no one appeared, and he made it off shore alive.
Fishermen from the other Andaman Islands spotted the content creator and reported him to the authorities, who arrested him in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Contact with outsiders and foreigners is completely forbidden to the isolated tribe of just 150 people, as dangerous diseases could be caught from them and wipe out the island’s entire population.
The indigenous tribe has lived on their island, North Sentinel, for an estimated 60,000 years and has managed to remain almost totally isolated from the outside world and modern civilization.
They use spears, bows, and arrows fashioned from things found around the island to catch seafood and land animals to eat.
Tourists are not allowed to go within five kilometers of the remote island, a law which the travel YouTuber completely ignored, both endangering and disrespecting the tribe.
Polyakov was arrested and charged with entering a prohibited tribal reserve area when he returned to civilisation days after the reckless adventure.
Director of indigenous rights group Survival International, Caroline Pearce, said: “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.”
If found guilty, Polyakov will face up to five years behind bars in India.
The YouTuber posts extreme travel content, including a series of videos shot in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
In 2018, John Allen Chau, an American missionary, was shot dead with arrows as he tried to reach the shore.
He made the treacherous journey in an attempt to convert the Sentinelese tribe to Christianity.
Two Indian fishermen were also killed by the indigenous tribe when they drifted too close to the island in 2006.
