An American YouTuber who illegally landed on North Sentinel Island and left a can of Diet Coke for one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes has defended his actions after releasing footage of the stunt — having escaped a potential five-year prison sentence with a fine of just £127.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, who runs the YouTube channel Neo-Orientalist, sailed to North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal on 29 March 2025 in a rubber dinghy, blew a whistle for an hour in an attempt to draw the attention of the Sentinelese tribe, and left a can of Diet Coke and a coconut on the sand. He spent nine hours crossing the water before reaching the protected island.
On 22 May 2026, he published a second video of his journey to his YouTube channel after escaping the potential five-year sentence with a fine of just $161. While Polyakov was ordered to leave India and surrender his video recordings, he managed to keep them. He has not explained how the footage was recovered after being confiscated by Indian authorities at the time of his arrest.
The 25-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona, said he simply wanted to “say hello” to the tribe and had hoped the Coke would “transport them thousands of years into the future.” Speaking to Dutch outlet AD, he insisted he had taken precautions. “I am vaccinated against flu and measles, and I never intended to come into direct contact with them,” he said. “As far as I know, you can’t catch diseases simply by looking at each other.” He added: “I wanted to give them a gift that is representative of our civilisation.”
Police said Polyakov had kept blowing a whistle for about an hour before going ashore. “He landed briefly for about five minutes, left the offerings on the shore, collected sand samples, and recorded a video before returning to his boat,” said Andaman and Nicobar Islands police chief HGS Dhaliwal. “A review of his GoPro camera footage showed his entry and landing into the restricted North Sentinel Island.”
The Sentinelese tribe numbers an estimated 150 people and has fiercely, often fatally, resisted contact with outsiders across recorded history. Visitors are legally barred from travelling within three miles of the island. Indian officials have restricted all interaction to rare supervised “gift-giving” encounters where small teams leave coconuts and bananas for the islanders, with local ships patrolling the surrounding waters.
A senior police officer told CBS News: “It may be claimed to be an adventure trip, but the fact is that there has been a violation of Indian laws. Outsiders meeting Sentinelese could endanger the tribe’s survival.”
Survival International, which campaigns for the rights of indigenous peoples, condemned the stunt in the strongest terms. The group’s director Caroline Pearce said: “This person’s actions not only endangered his own life, but they also put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk,” describing the visit as “reckless and idiotic.” Experts warn that uncontacted tribes have no immunity to common diseases, meaning even fleeting contact with an outsider could trigger a catastrophic outbreak.
The danger to those who attempt contact is equally real. In 2018, American missionary John Chau was killed by the Sentinelese when he attempted to land on the island — a case that drew global attention to the tribe’s fierce determination to remain isolated.
A preliminary investigation revealed Polyakov had made two previous attempts to visit the island before finally reaching it — in October of the previous year and again in January. Police said he had been drawn by a passion for extreme challenges and fascination with the tribe’s mysterious existence. He was arrested after local fishermen spotted him returning from the island and alerted authorities.
Polyakov said he had no illusions about the public reaction. “Everyone is free to think what they want,” he told AD. A third video in his series is reportedly planned.
