The world is full of places that are off limits to humans, either because they are too dangerous
for us to dwell into, they are protected wildlife sanctuaries or they are owned by governments
who forbid us from entering. When someone does end up in one of these prohibited areas,
either by mistake or out of curiosity, there are few who survive to tell the tale.
5. Fukushima Exclusion Zone
On the 11th of March, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Tohoku region in northeast
Japan, causing a 45-foot tsunami which spilled over the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s
seawall, flooding the lower sections of 4 nuclear reactors. This caused three nuclear
meltdowns and between 12 and 15 March, nuclear contamination from 3 reactors released radiation
into the atmosphere, prompting the evacuation of over 150,000 people from surrounding areas.
In the wake of this disaster, exclusion zones were established in areas that were deemed
too dangerous to enter due to the high radiation levels that remained there. But in June of
2016, a Malaysian man named Keow Wee Loong and a friend decided to venture into the Fukushima
exclusion zone which spans for 12.5 miles in radius around the former power plant.
In order to stay out of sights of authorities, the two men headed into the woods and hiked
for 15.5 miles to get to their destination. They set out at 2am and travelled to the towns
of Tomioka, Namie, Futaba and Okuma. What they saw was a grim reminder of the towns
and people who once lived there, only to have their lives irrevocably upturned in a single
day.
He found clothes half-folded or left in tumble dryers at a laundromat, read through magazines
lying strewn about in supermarkets due to the earthquake, cars abandoned where they
were parked and rotten food, fruit and vegetables left in stalls by the owners who were forced
to flee at a moment’s notice.
When asked why he dared to enter such a dangerous area, he stated that he wanted to document
the aftermath of the disaster and share it with the rest of the world, which he did by
taking photographs. He also said that he wasn’t too worried about the radiation, as his research
showed that it was okay to be in the area for less than 24 hours.
Former residents of Fukushima have since lashed out at him, stating that his intrusion was
disrespectful to those who once lived in the area and those who lost their lives during
the disaster.
4. Triloknath Pandit
Most of us are familiar with the North Sentinel Island which is inhabited by a tribe of people
who remain completely isolated from the rest of the world. There have been accounts of
people who have dared to visit the island in hopes that they could make contact with
the tribe, but this has always ended badly with the Sentinelese tribes people reacting
very aggressively, firing arrows at anyone who approaches and on several occasions, ending
their lives.
In 1967, however, T. N. Pandit, an Indian anthropologist, started making trips to the
island as part of an expedition group, bringing items such as pots, pans, coconuts and tools
with them, hoping that the tribe would accept their gifts and possibly communicate with
the explorers.
Three men from the Onge tribe would accompany them in order to attempt to translate any
verbal interactions. Initially, they were unsuccessful and were met with serious aggression
from the tribe who carried longbows, knives and other crude weapons. With each unsuccessful
visit, they would leave the gifts behind to try and build a rapport with the tribe, on
one occasion leaving a live pig behind, only to watch it immediately being killed and buried
in the sand.
Then, in 1991, as they approached the island, some of the tribespeople entered the sea and
approached peacefully. Pandit and his fellow explorers jumped out of their boat and started
handing over gifts while neck-deep in the water. They were not permitted to get any
closer to the shore and Pandit remained cautious whenever he got close to one of them.
At one stage, the group tried to communicate with the tribes members, but they were too
preoccupied with the gifts that they had been given, talking amongst themselves in a language
that sounded similar to those spoken by other tribes in the area.
It is no longer permitted to travel to the island to hand over gifts or even to approach
the beach though Pandit insists that the Sentinelese are a peace-loving people who will only attack
outsiders who, as we know, have been clearly warned to stay away.
3. Kilauea Volcano
Kilauea Volcano is an active shield volcano located on the Hawaiian Islands. It erupted
almost continuously between 1983 and 2018, completely destroying the towns of Kalapana
and Kaimu and has erupted as recently as December of 2020. It has been a popular tourist attraction
since the 1840s with various hotels having operated along its rim in the past.
Around 2.6 million people visit the volcano every year, taking advantage of the various
hiking trails and guided ranger programs on offer.
In the 1st of May, 2019, an unnamed soldier from Schofield Barracks in Honolulu was on
the Big Island for training exercises at Pohakuloa when he decided to visit the volcano.
At around 6:30pm, he was in an area called the Steaming Bluff Overlook which is lined
with a permanent metal railing to keep visitors from venturing to close to the volcano below.
He decided that he wanted to get a clearer view of the area directly below the overlook
and he climbed over the railing.
While he was taking in his unobstructed view, the ground beneath him gave way and he plummeted
off the 300-foot cliff. Fortunately, he had only dropped 70 feet when he struck a narrow
ledge and came to rest there. Another visitor saw what had happened and immediately informed
authorities that a man had fallen into the crater.
The Hawaii County Fire Department responded and firemen were able to rappel down to the
ledge where the man lay seriously injured, but alive. They moved him on to a stretcher
and he was lifted back up to terra firma 2 hours after his fall before being airlifted
to the Hilo Medical Center.
2. Pine Gap
Pine Gap is a US satellite surveillance base situated roughly 11 miles from the town of
Alice Springs in central Australia. It is jointly operated by the US and Australia and
is used to collect four different types of signal.
These include telemetry from advanced weapons development, signals from anti-missile and
anti-aircraft radars, communications satellites transmissions and microwave transmissions
found, for example, in long-distance phone calls. It is mainly run by the NSA, CIA and
NRO and serves as a contributor to the NSA’s global interception program.
On the 8th of December of 2005, a gathering was organized by the Christians Against All
Terrorism group which included Jim Dowling, Adele Goldie, Bryan Law and Donna Mulhearn,
now known as the Pine Gap 4, along with Bryan Law, Jessica Morrison and Sean O’Reilly,
in which they staged a protest outside of the facility, believing that its very existence
was a war crime.
At some point, they made contact with Pat Hayes who was the caretaker for the Pine Gap
area and asked if they would be allowed to enter his land so that they could expose the
violent nature of the base, since no permission had ever been given for Pine Gap to be utilized
by the military and it was partially situated on that land.
He agreed and on the 3rd of October the following year, the group entered the area to carry
out a citizen’s inspection of the facility, hoping to expose any war crimes or terrorist
activity that may have taken place there. They were specifically focused on the bombing
of innocent civilians in Iraq which they believed was being carried out by a foreign power situated
in Australia.
After walking through dessert terrain for several hours, Dowling and Goldie managed
to enter the facility without being detected and made it on to the roof where they took
photos of themselves before being seen and promptly arrested. Mulhearn and Law managed
to stay undetected for over an hour, but were eventually spotted as they attempted to cut
through the last inner fence of the facility and they, too, were quickly arrested.
Morrison and O’Reilly had waited outside the front gates, holding a peaceful vigil
during which O’Reilly was also detained for hindering police, though this was deemed
to be unfounded later in the Alice Springs Court.
The Pine Gap 4 faced up to 7 years in prison with an extra 2 years being tacked on for
taking photos inside of the base. In June of 2007, their trial was held in a Supreme
Court, lasting 3 weeks and after 5 hours of deliberation, a jury found them guilty of
all charges. They would, however not spend any time behind bars, instead receiving a
total fine of $13,300 which they have thus far, refused to pay.
1. St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant
In 2015, Christopher Le Cun, a navy veteran, was with his wife and children along with
his friend, Robert Blake, just off the coast of Hutchinson Island, Florida where the two
men were scuba diving. Christopher, who has been scuba diving since he was 12 years old,
noticed something peculiar under the water and decided to take a closer look,
As he swam closer to the area, he saw what looked like a building under the water and
decided that he wanted to inspect it more closely. The area was directly below a yellow
buoy to which they had tied their boat and so, he thought that he would be safe since
he would not be venturing far from his diving partner.
As he swam up to the structure, he felt a slight tug from a current and before he could
react, he was sucked into a pipe, the current having grown exponentially stronger. Blake
would describe seeing his friend getting sucked in “like a wet noodle” and he panicked,
believing that Christopher was already dead.
Blake swam back up to the surface to get help, but in the mean time, Christopher tried to
fight the current, to no avail. He had, in fact, been sucked into a quarter-mile long,
16-foot diameter intake pipe which pulls about 500,000 gallons of water per minute into the
St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant.
He clung to his mask and respirator while being flung in every direction and after about
30 seconds, he was able to get his bearings. For the next 5 minutes, he would fumble around
in absolute pitch darkness, all the while thinking about his wife and children who were
waiting, none the wiser, back on the boat.
He would later state that he was convinced he was about to be sucked into a turbine of
some sort and that he would end up dying a horribly violent death. At one point, he considered
pulling his regulator out of his mouth to end his ordeal quickly, but decided to hang
on for his family’s sake.
Suddenly, he saw a small point of light in the distance and, as he continued being pulled
down the pipe, it grew bigger and bigger until, in a moment, he was surrounded by daylight,
fish and crystal-clear water. At first he thought that he had died and gone to heaven,
but when a power plant employee asked him what he was doing there, he asked for a phone
to call his wife, who was still on the boat, praying for his safe return.
Plant employees would later tell him that they were 5 minutes away from leaving for
the night and if he hadn’t surfaced when he did, things would’ve ended very differently.