ISLE BE DAMNED

U.S. Tourist Arrested for Giving Diet Coke to Tribe Breaks Silence

The 25-year-old was arrested after entering the prohibited territory of North Sentinel Island.

An American vlogger arrested after leaving a can of Diet Coke for an isolated tribe has broken his silence. Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 25, was arrested in March last year after entering the prohibited territory of North Sentinel Island, where access is banned within three miles. The island, part of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is home to a tribe that has been isolated for thousands of years. Indian police said he spent about an hour on the island as part of a YouTube stunt, using a whistle to attract attention from members of the Sentinelese tribe, but received no response. He later left a can of Diet Coke and a coconut as offerings. Polyakov posted previously unseen footage of the trip on Friday. He said he wanted to “say hello” and give them Coke to “transport them thousands of years into the future” and “give them a gift that is representative of our civilization.” He was accused of endangering the tribe through disease exposure. He later told Dutch media that he did not intend to make direct contact. “You can’t catch diseases simply by looking at each other,” he said.