Pictured: The Tintin ‘danger tourist' who left Coke can for world's most isolated tribe
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, from North Goldwater, Arizona, tried to make contact with the reclusive indigenous inhabitants of North Sentinel Island, part of an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, which is off limits to visitors to protect the islanders' way of life.
Indian police said Mr Polyakov travelled to the island in the early hours of Saturday morning using a makeshift craft to cross a 25-mile strait from Kurma Dera beach on South Andaman Island.
'This is it. The last uncontracted tribe. The last mystery. If they see me, will they attack? Or will they accept me?' his Go-Pro camera microphone recorded him whispering as he approached the forbidden island.
After landing, he briefly stepped out of the boat, left a can of Coca-Cola and a coconut as offerings, collected some sand samples, and then departed.
He returned to Kurma Dera Beach at 7pm, where fishermen spotted him and alerted the police. He was arrested and remains in custody.
Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal, director general of Andaman and Nicobar Police, said.'If found guilty, he may face three to five years in prison for breaching the law that prohibits unauthorised entry into the areas inhabited by protected tribes of North Sentinel Island.'
This was not Mr Polyakov's first attempt to reach the Sentinelese, a pre-Neolithic people who have rebuffed all contact with the modern world, firing bows and arrows at passing helicopters and killing those landing ashore.
In October 2024, he prepared a reconnaissance mission using an inflatable kayak but was stopped by hotel staff before he could launch.
In the same month, he posted a cryptic image on his YouTube channel captioned 'A little Columbus Day teaser for the fans'.
The image, a cartoon in the style of The Adventures of Tintin, showed a boy with a dog aboard a motorboat approaching an island resembling the one home to the Sentinelese.
Mr Polyakov's YouTube channel, called 'Neo-Orientalist', revealed other risky adventures including exploring an abandoned US military base in Afghanistan.
In another video taken during a three-week road trip in the Taliban-controlled country, he is seen brandishing an assault rifle alongside Islamist militants.
In January, he returned to the Andaman archipelago, staying in the city of Port Blair while attempting to procure an outboard motor for a boat to make the illicit crossing.
Around this time, he visited Baratang Island, where he illegally filmed the semi-nomadic Jarawa tribe before departing on January 27.
In March, he returned to Port Blair. After fitting the motor to his boat at a workshop, he purchased fuel and checked into the Andaman Sunset View Resort.
Over the following days, he meticulously studied sea conditions, tides and landing sites for the journey.
On March 29, he launched his boat under the cover of darkness, carrying the coconut and Coca-Cola can he intended to give to the island's inhabitants.
After nine hours at sea, he reached its northeastern shore. Using binoculars, he scanned the area but saw no signs of life.
He then filmed himself wading onto the beach and placing his offerings on the sand.
The video, later recovered by police, captures him exclaiming: 'I have landed here. I am a solo traveller. No one has landed here before. This is anti-climactic. No one has done this before.'
He remained offshore for an hour blowing a whistle in an attempt to attract attention, but received no response. After three hours, he began his return journey, reaching Kurma Dera beach by 7pm where he was spotted by fishermen.
Authorities said he used GPS to navigate seas around the island, they said.
After his arrest on March 31, authorities confiscated Mr Polyakov's passport, mobile phone and Go-Pro camera.
'The unauthorised entry into the North Sentinel Island is not just a breach of Indian law, but a serious threat to the safety of the both Sentinelese and the individuals involved,' Mr Dhaliwal said.
'Any unlawful attempt to enter restricted tribal areas will be met with strict legal consequences,' he added.
Mr Polyakov told police that he was drawn to the island due to his passion for adventure and his desire to undertake extreme challenges, as well as by the allure of the mysterious Sentinelese.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
4 minutes ago
- The Hill
California AG on Trump National Guard deployment threat: ‘Absolute' violation of the law
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) denounced President Trump's threat to deploy National Guard troops to help combat crime in California as an 'absolute' violation of the law. 'Absolute, complete, transparent, blatant, brazen violation of the law. The Posse Comitatus Act said you cannot use military to engage in civilian law enforcement on American soil. Period, full stop,' he told NewsNation's Blake Burman in an episode of 'The Hill.' 'Tackling crime is the very definition of civilian law enforcement,' he continued. 'He — the military would be involved in detentions, arrests, searches and seizures, in clear violation. So, he's already, he's saying he will break the law.' Bonta added, 'But that's consistent for him, he's broken it 39 times. That's how many times we sued him in 30 weeks.' Trump signaled last week he could attempt to widen his efforts to exert federal control to other Democratic-led cities after launching a crackdown in Washington, D.C., citing what he said was out-of-control crime and squalor. 'We have other cities also that are bad. Very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is,' Trump told reporters during a press conference, after boosting federal law enforcement in the nation's capital. 'New York has a problem. And then you have, of course Baltimore and Oakland, we don't even mention that anymore. They're so far gone. We're not going to lose our cities over this,' the president continued at the time. 'And this will go further. We're starting very strongly with D.C., and we're going to clean it up very quickly, as they say.' Despite the move, the district's records show that crime is at a 30-year low. The Justice Department launched a probe into the D.C. data earlier this week. Democrats, district residents and local officials have pushed back on the Trump administration's efforts, including the deployment of National Guard troops — some of them armed — across the district. Trump has also suggested he could work with Congress to extend the federal takeover past the 30 days allotted under the city's Home Rule Act. His latest threat on California comes after the president deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year to quell protests of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) deportation raids.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine says huge Russian attack proves Putin uninterested in peace
Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with 574 drones and 40 missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Most of the weapons were intercepted by Ukraine's air defenses, but the massive assault was far from unusual, and officials said at least one person was killed and 15 injured. Ukrainian officials said the Russian attack hit energy infrastructure, private homes, an American electronics factory — where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the 15 injuries were sustained, and a kindergarten. "Last night, the Russian army set one of its insane anti-records. They struck civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, and our people," Zelenskyy said in a message posted on social media. He called the electronics plant an "American investment" and an "ordinary civilian enterprise" producing "everyday items as coffee machines." "This is also a target for the Russians. Very telling. The fire is still being extinguished at the enterprise. As of now, 15 people are known to have been affected by this strike. All of them have been provided with the necessary assistance," he said. Alluding to President Trump's efforts to broker a peace deal to end the war, including the bilateral summit between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin just a week earlier, Zelenskyy condemned Moscow for launching the new strike "as if nothing had changed at all. As if there were no efforts by the world to stop this war." "A response is needed," he added. "So far, there has been no signal from Moscow that they are really going to engage in meaningful negotiations and end this war. Pressure is needed. Strong sanctions, strong tariffs." There has been a lot of talk — outside of Ukraine — about a peace deal amid Mr. Trump's ramped-up diplomacy. But inside Ukraine, people continue to live and die in a war zone more than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Many in the country, like their president, simply don't believe that Putin really wants to end the war. They think he's just playing along with the ceasefire narrative to avoid angering Mr. Trump. And in the meantime, Putin's army continues to expand its massive seizure of territory in eastern Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry claimed Thursday that forces had captured yet another village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Major Taras Berezovets of the Ukrainian forces told CBS News that even if Putin were to agree to a ceasefire, the Russian leader simply should not be trusted. "Absolutely not," Berezovets told CBS News. "He's a cheater, he's a criminal… and he would never accept the fact that independent Ukraine still exists." That is why Ukraine wants security guarantees — a promise of protection from the U.S. and its NATO allies in the event Russia should invade again after any eventual ceasefire is implemented. President Trump has been adamant that such a guarantee would not involve U.S. boots on the ground, and Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Europe would have to bear most of the costs. But getting all sides, including Russia, to agree to those security guarantees may be next to impossible. After his meeting with Putin, Mr. Trump met with Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington to hold separate talks. But Moscow has downplayed the prospects of a Putin-Zelenskyy summit any time soon, and officials have said Russia should be included in any looming discussions on security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump sounds off on potential security guarantees for Ukraine The most widespread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines this year Court blocks Texas law requiring public classrooms to display Ten Commandments
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
A wartime mass grave in Sri Lanka yields a baby bottle, children's clothes and 141 skeletons
Several Tamil armed groups and an Indian peacekeeping mission were active in the region over the decades. But attention has focused on the Sri Lankan military, which had a heavy presence for over a decade in Chemmani, as the gateway to Jaffna town. A confession made by an army soldier before he was sentenced to death for rape and murder 27 years ago has strengthened suspicions about the site. In 1998, Somaratne Rajapakse along with four alleged accomplices from the military and police were sentenced to death for the gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl and the killing of her mother, brother and a neighbor. The five, who weren't hanged and remain in prison due to a moratorium on executions, have maintained that they were not involved in the rape and murder, but only disposed of the bodies under orders. Rajapakse told the court that he knew where up to 400 bodies were buried in Chammani. 'We cannot say exactly who the perpetrators are yet, but the finger points to the (state) army,' said Brito Fernando, an activist working with the families of people who disappeared during various armed conflicts in Sri Lanka. The area, including the cremation ground, were under Sri Lankan military control from 1996, when it captured Jaffna from the rebels, until after the war ended in 2009. The military operated checkpoints, and anyone who entered or left the area was searched. In 1999, Rajapakse led police to a spot where the schoolgirl, her family and the neighbor were buried and later showed police other places where more remains were found. But the investigations were abruptly stopped. Items found at the site were publicly displayed earlier this month in the hope that their owners would be identified, and many people from surrounding villages and beyond visited the site. Amalanathan Mary Calista, whose husband has been missing since 1996 when the military arrested him in their village, said she hoped seeing proof that her husband was dead would bring a sense of closure. 'I went there hoping to see at least his clothes. There was a sarong (clothing that wraps around the waist) but it wasn't my husband's. He was wearing a blue sarong at the time. It was disappointing,' she said. 'I only saw the clothing of little children,' she added, as she wept. She said her husband is among 24 people who never returned home after the military searched their village. Families had tried to block the army vehicles from taking away the detained people, but the authorities pushed them aside with guns and the vehicles sped away, she said. 'My wish is that he should be alive and return, but we can do nothing if it is not so,' she said. 'The state army arrested him. They must say that they arrested him and that he died at their hands. They also must pay us compensation,' she said. Sivanathan Selvamalar said she watched her younger brother being loaded into a military truck blindfolded during that same raid. Years later, in 2009, her husband was also detained at a checkpoint. He called her to tell her of his arrest and was not heard from again. 'We went to see the things, thinking they may have buried people who were arrested around this area, but we saw only the things of little children,' she said. 'We have checked all the prisons but have not found them. When we are told that more than 100 skeletons have been dug out, we fear the worst,' she added. A 2003 report by Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission said it investigated 281 complaints of missing persons from 1990 to 1998. Of these, three were found in prisons and later released, while the rest are still unaccounted for. The report said the military was responsible for 243 cases, while the Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible for 25. The responsibility for 10 others is unknown. Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, the editor of the only newspaper in the region at the time, said several families returned to Jaffna after fleeing into rebel-held territory as the military moved in. Some reportedly went missing after being stopped at checkpoints set up to look for infiltrating rebels, he said. Although previous investigations stalled, there is hope now that victims will be identified, Fernando said. But he said the government must do more to conduct a credible investigation. 'We don't have proper guidelines to investigate the mass graves and have no DNA bank to help with identification,' said Fernando, adding that the government should fund a DNA bank and enlist international support in the identification of victims. 'Only a proper investigation by the government can free its military from suspicion,' he said. Any direct probe into the military would likely anger Sri Lankan nationalists. Many of the majority ethnic Sinhalese admire the military for winning the civil war. Ground-penetrating radar in other parts of the cremation ground has shown 'soil anomalies … that are indicative of comparable density of buried skeletal remains,' according to a report submitted in the Jaffna court last week. The scanned area is three times larger than the site that has been excavated, said Ranitha Gnanarajah, a lawyer monitoring the process. Investigators have requested court approval to continue excavations for eight more weeks, she said. Army spokesman Brig. Waruna Gamage said no one has formally accused the army of responsibility for the mass grave, and if they did they would need to show proof, he said. 'The excavations are still ongoing and it is a civil matter belonging to the police and courts,' Gamage said. 'We will respect the law of the country.' Government forces and the rebels are both accused of committing atrocities amounting to war crimes in the months leading to the end of the civil war in 2009.
