5 Islands that’ll kill you if you get stranded on them
Getting stranded is never fun and always comes with some level of risk, but usually it happens on a secluded back road or on a mountain where the only dangers are what the local landscape and climate presents. Here are five islands around the world that you won’t be able to survive on no matter how skilled and well-equipped you are.
North Sentinel island — Bay of Bengal
The island itself is like any other in the Andaman island chain that sits in the Bay of Bengal, but it isn’t the island itself that’s dangerous. There is an isolated tribe that calls the island home known simply as the Sentinelese who aren’t exactly welcoming to people who land on their shore. They are a primitive tribe who haven’t discovered metal yet and are thought to live mostly off fish and fruit, but for some reason, they always attack on sight. Ever since the first people discovered the island the tribe has been intensely hostile towards outsiders and always attacks on sight with the intention to kill. So far no one has been able to talk to the tribe as they either attack straight away or run off to get more tribesmen to launch a bigger attack, so no one has been able to find out why they are so hostile.
Snake island — Brazil
Probably the most famous dangerous island in the world, Ilha da Queimada as it is officially called is a small island located close to the coast of Brazil and is the most lethal island on earth. Many islands can kill you over time from radiation or extreme climates, but nothing will kill you faster than being on Snake Island. The reason is due to the island‘s inhabitants which are several thousand Golden Lance head vipers who cover every single part of it. They have a very potent venom capable of killing an adult and since they cover the whole island you are guaranteed to come into contact with them.
Farallon islands — US
When people first found out about radiation they didn’t really understand much about it other than it could be used to make bombs. A huge amount of research and production took place on the subject and various nuclear materials were produced, which in turn created a massive amount of radioactive waste. To get rid of it they thought “Hey, let’s just chuck it in the sea and forget about it” and that’s exactly what they did around the coast of the Farallon islands. Starting in 1946 and running until 1970, the US government dumped close to 50,000 steel drums at 55 gallons each into the sea surrounding the islands containing various types of highly radioactive waste. The exact location hasn’t been revealed and it’s thought it would cause more harm than good to remove them, so getting stuck on this island could see you making shelter on some wildly radioactive rocks.
Ramree island — Myanmar
This one is famous because of an incident that occurred here during World War Two. The island itself is connected to the mainland by a series of swamps and smaller islands which are home to a huge saltwater crocodile population. During the war, hundreds of Japanese troops were retreating from the island after an Allied assault and were forced to make their way through the swamps to get to the mainland. Since the distance between Ramree island and the mainland is well over 10 miles they were forced to camp in the swamp for a night and suffered the worst crocodile attack in history. The numbers are debated and since most of the evidence was eaten the real number will never be known, but well over 500 Japanese troops are thought to have lost their lives that night and all from crocodiles. Today the island is inhabited but still has a very large saltwater crocodile population who still live in the same swamp.
Miyakejima island — Japan
This island is one of the seven small islands that make up the Izu island chain, a group of volcanic islands spread out across a 280-mile stretch of ocean. All of the islands are volcanic and quite small and steep, but this hasn’t stopped people from living there over the years. The reason some of them are so dangerous is because of the large sulphur reef that has formed as a result of the volcanic activity and this reef is strongest around the island of Miyakejima. It was evacuated in 2000 due to the levels of sulphur gas in the air being dangerously high and even after a five-year quarantine only a handful of the residents decided to return. Even today anyone living on or visiting the island is required to wear a mask at all times, even indoors and must accept they are there at their own risk.
