Most people see islands as a beautiful and amongst the best sites to spend a vacation on but did you know that there are some islands on this planet where you once go, you will probably not return, not in one piece or not alive. Astonishingly, most of these islands were rendered dangerous due to human activities while only some are dangerous due to natural causes. Here are 10 of those deadliest, most dangerous islands where you should never set foot on.
10. Poveglia Island: Venice, Italy
It is a small island located between Venice and Lido in Northern Italy. The island has a pretty dark history. The island reportedly has black pits where the victims of Plague were buried after being quarantined here. By a rough estimate, over 100,000 people have died here. In 1922, the island also became a home for mentally retarded where a doctor allegedly experimented on patients with crude lobotomies. He later committed suicide by jumping off a tower claiming he had been driven mad by the ghosts.
The island is completely abandoned now as many people fear to go there due to the paranormal activities and eerie sounds. The island has also been featured on the paranormal shows like Ghost Adventures and Scariest Places on Earth.
9. Bikini Atoll: Marshall Islands
This island is located in the Pacific Ocean and is a part of the Marshall Islands. In 1946, its entire population was evacuated to the neighboring island because the United States had to carry out their nuclear tests over there. 23 nuclear explosions, including a hydrogen bomb were bombarded till 1958. Even though half a century has passed, the food grown over here is still contaminated. Make sure you never get stranded on this island, if the ocean couldn’t kill you, the food will.
8. Miyake-jima and Izu Islands: Japan
Miyake-Jima is a small Japanese island where an active volcano Mount Oyama’s recent eruptions lasted from 2000 to 2004. Now that is a lot of time! The volcano has still left behind toxic sulphur vapors and when they reach a specific level, an alarm goes off warning the inhabitants to wear gas masks. Another island named Izu also faces same circumstances but here the inhabitants have to wear the gas masks 24/7 or else they die of complications due to severe contamination. Now that is a tough life to live!
7. Ilha da Queimada Grande: Brazil
Ilha de Queimada Grande is a small island situated off the coast of Brazil. It is also known as the Snake Island. The island is the home to the venomous and critically endangered golden lancehead pit viper. The snakes got trapped on the island when the rising sea levels covered up the land connecting the island to the mainland. This made them adapt to the environment and a rapid increase of their population, there are thousands of them now. What a happy ending for these endangered species! The venom from this snake is capable of melting the human tissues and meat and cause brain hemorrhage, kidney failure and instant death. The Brazilian navy has banned public from this island. Only some specifically sanctioned scientific research teams are allowed to go in there. There was once a lighthouse with men in there, but now it has been automated.
6. Ramree Island: Burma
The Ramree island in Burma does not have a pleasant history. During the second World War, the Japanese were defeated by the British and tried to escape through the island’s swamp. What they didn’t know that the island’s main population was Salt Water Crocodiles. There are thousands of them. Not a single soldier could escape and all 400 of them were taken alive by the predators. (According to a report, some of the soldiers survived the crocs and later died of dehydration or dysentery). The Guinness book of World Record has listed the incident as the greatest disaster suffered by humans by animals.
5. Enewetak Atoll: Marshall Islands
This island also fell a prey of US Nuclear testing. More than 30 megatons of TNT had been exploded during the cold war. During 1977 and and 1980, a concrete dome named as the Runit Dome was built to deposit the radioactive debris and contaminated soil however, the Renut Dome is deteriorating and can be breached by a typhoon anytime now. The sediments present in the lagoon are even more contaminated than the elements which are contained inside the dome. Now that’s a dangerously funny situation.
4. Reunion Island: Indian Ocean
This island has been inhabited since the 17th century. The island is amazingly beautiful and a tourist attraction. The problem is that the water surrounding it has a huge number of sharks! During 2011 and 2015, 17 shark attacks have been reported out of which 7 were fatal. In 2013, there was a ban on swimming, surfing and bodyboarding on more than half of the coast. The prefect of Reunion also announced that 45 bull sharks and 45 tiger sharks will be culled from the waters. Now that is good news but go swim around at your own risk.
3. Gruinard Island: Scotland
The oval shaped small Scottish island had a population of 6 people in total by 1881 but it has been inhabited since the 1920s. The island was kept under secret due to the warfare biological experiments carried out by the British government. The scientists experimented with the Anthrax Bacterium which killed all the animal species on the island and contaminated the soil. It was deemed expensive to decontaminate it for public visits but eventually it was disinfected by the 20th century. As till 2007, no Anthrax has been found in the island flocks but the human population still remains zero.
2. North Sentinel Andaman Island: India
The Sentinel Andaman Island is a secluded island in the Andaman sea outside India. The Sentinelese people live on the North of the island and reject any contact with the outside world. They are the last people who remain untouched by the modern civilization. And, they prefer to be left alone in the little world of their own. They welcome the visitors with spears and arrows and no outsider has been reported to come out alive. In 2006, two Indian fishermen were killed by the natives when their boat accidentally drifted too near to the island. The tribe survived the 2004 Indian ocean earthquake and chased away the aid by throwing stones and shooting arrows at the helicopters. Their population is estimated to be around 50 to 400 individuals. The Indian government has declared the island and the waters surrounding it as an exclusion zone and a No-Go area.
1. Vozrozhdeniya Island: Uzbekistan
Voz Island floats on the Aral sea and its territory is split between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In 1948, a top secret Soviet laboratory was constructed there experimenting on bioweapons whilst testing on variety of agents such as smallpox, anthrax, plague, brucellosis and tularemia. In 1971, weaponized smallpox was released accidentally from the lab which infected ten people, eventually killing three of them. When the secrecy got compromised in 1990s by one of Soviet’s own defectors, the island inhabitants were evacuated and the base was completely abandoned till 1991. It became a ghost town. Many of the containers left behind were not properly destroyed or sealed and have developed leaks over the last decade. Though many of the sites were decontaminated by 2002, the island still scares the people to be living on it.
