&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Extreme Travel' YouTuber who offered diet coke to Andamans' Sentinelese tribe people faces five years in jail")
An ‘extreme travel’ YouTuber who tried to make contact with the isolated Sentinelese people in India's Andaman Islands has had his bail rejected by a court in Port Blair this week. Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, who featured his travel adventures on the YouTube channel Neo Orientalist, will appear before the court again on April 29. In March last year, he was arrested by Indian authorities for having tried to contact the tribe with an offering of Diet Coke.
The YouTuber who tried to contact the Sentinelese people: Polyakov could face up to five years in jail
After rejecting his bail petition, the court in Port Blair extended Polyakov's judicial custody. If found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison.
His stunt was highly dangerous because the Sentinelese are a small population and extremely vulnerable to outside diseases. Even a soda can could introduce deadly contamination.
Contact with outsiders is strictly banned. Laws prohibit anyone from coming within five kilometres of the island. Polyakov ignored these restrictions.
Why is contacting the Sentinelese forbidden?
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The Sentinelese people have been inhabitants of North Sentinel Island for around 60,000 years. Offering them a Diet Coke would be a bad idea, and could even be fatal, as the spear-wielding tribe has not generally welcomed outsider contact.
Among the world’s most isolated peoples, the Sentinelese live as hunter-gatherers. They rely on tools like spears and bows for survival.
How YouTuber Polyakov reached the Sentinelese people
Polyakov recorded his journey for a vlog-style video, which eventually became the evidence against him. He illegally travelled to North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands.
He spent nine hours rowing a rubber dinghy to the island and filmed himself leaving a coconut and a can of Diet Coke from Coca-Cola as a “peace offering” during a brief five-minute visit.
Also read: Family pays tribute to John Allen Chau, Christian missionary killed by Sentinelese tribe in Andaman
Polyakov is known for extreme travel content
Polyakov, who was arrested last year and charged with entering a prohibited tribal reserve area, is known for extreme travel content. Previously, he had gone and filmed in high-risk locations such as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Also read: Man enters North Sentinel Island: When the Sentinelese killed an American who visited them thrice
Past deadly incidents involving Sentinelese people
The incident echoes past deadly encounters with the Sentinelese people.
In 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese after attempting contact.
In 2006, two Indian fishermen who drifted too close to the island were also killed.
