Man arrested after traveling to ‘world’s most remote island’ and leaving can of Coke explains why he did it
The YouTuber who was arrested after sailing out to the ‘world’s most isolated tribe’ and leaving behind a can of Diet Coke has revealed why he did it.
US YouTuber Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov was arrested last year after heading over to North Sentinel Island.
The Indian government has placed an exclusion zone around the island, completely outlawing visitors from getting too close, to protect the Sentinelese tribe, who have lived in isolation for thousands of years.
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The tribe is also known to react violently towards outsiders who approach their territory.
In March last year, Polyakov sparked outrage after he filmed himself heading out to the island, where he reportedly spent an hour walking around on the sand.
He eventually left without seeing any of the Sentinelese tribe, but decided to leave behind a can of Diet Coke as an offering.
Last week, the YouTuber uploaded a new clip to his channel - titled The Last Island Part 2 - which caught his journey to the island.
While sitting in a small boat making his way to North Sentinel Island, he held the can of Diet Coke and said: “So the goal is to introduce this tribe to modernity, end history, by giving them this Diet Coke, I will move them ahead 10,000 years. No, 30,000 years, most likely."
Elsewhere in the new clip, the 25-year-old attempted to defend his actions, saying that he was vaccinated and hadn’t actually planned on meeting any of the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island.
“The biggest threat to isolated tribal groups remains respiratory illness like the flu or measles, both of which I'm vaccinated against,” he said in the clip.
“Regardless, all of this is ultimately irrelevant because I never intended to meet them up close and I never did. To my knowledge, there is no disease that can be transmitted by simply looking at someone.”
Earlier this week, he was contacted by Dutch publication AD and was questioned why he had left behind the can of Diet Coke.
He told the publication that he ‘wanted to give a ‘gift that is representative of our civilisation’.
After he was arrested in 2025, Polyakov was ordered to hand over the footage to Indian authorities, but as yet hasn’t revealed how he got it back.
Why is it so important for the Sentinelese tribe not to be contacted?
As well as the Sentinelese making it clear they don't want to be contacted, outside contact can also pose a huge threat to their way of life and wellbeing.
Survival International works hard to ensure the tribe's wish to remain uncontacted is respected, as they could be wiped out by diseases to which they have no immunity.
Isolated tribes such as the Sentinelese have little to no immunity to common diseases of the west, meaning any infectious disease carried by a visitor would likely be lethal to the community.
However, despite this risk, Survival International has said the overall health of the tribe is very good - basically, they have so little contact with groups carrying infectious disease, so this is simply not a problem for them.
Their problem, however, is the availability of food, which depends on the weather and related factors.
Topics: World News
Claire Reid