An American tourist has been arrested for allegedly travelling to a remote island and leaving a can of Coke as an “offering” to the world’s most isolated tribe.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, was detained in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Monday.
He is claimed to have travelled to a prohibited tribal reserve on North Sentinel Island without permission.
Mr Polyakov is alleged to have sailed 25 miles from Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to the island on a makeshift craft.
He used binoculars to survey the area for signs of life and blew a whistle on his boat to attract attention to himself - but received no response.
Police told the Press Trust of India that Mr Polyakov then left a can of Coke as an “offering” for the Sentinelese tribe that inhabits the island.
The group is hostile to outsiders and has reportedly killed trespassers in the past.
Mr Polyakov was spotted on his return to Kurma Dera Beach by local fisherman, who reported him to police.
“We are getting more details about him and his intention to visit the reserved tribal area,” Andaman and Nicobar Islands' Director General of Police told the newspaper.
Caroline Pearce, the director of indigenous rights group Survival International, called the journey “reckless and idiotic”.
“This person's actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk,' she told MailOnline.
“It's very well known by now that uncontacted peoples have no immunity to common outside diseases like flu or measles, which could completely wipe them out.”
