The barges unloaded their passengers during the afternoon of May 18, on Nazino Island, a swampy island about 3 km (2 miles) long and 600 meters (650 yds) wide. There was no roster of the disembarking deportees, but on arrival 322 women and 4,556 men were counted, plus 27 bodies of those who died during the trip from Tomsk. Over a third of the deportees were too weak to stand on arrival. About 1,200 additional deportees arrived on May 27.[15] A fight broke out and guards fired on the deportees as the twenty tons of flour were deposited on the island and distribution began. The flour was moved to the shore opposite the island and distribution were tried again the next morning, with another fight and more firing resulting. Afterward, all flour was distributed via "brigadiers" who collected flour for their brigade of about 150 people. The brigadiers were often criminals who abused their positions. There were no ovens to bake bread, so the deportees ate the flour mixed with river water, which led to dysentery.[16] Some deportees made primitive rafts to try to escape, but most of the rafts collapsed and hundreds of corpses washed up on the shore below the island. Guards hunted and killed other escapees as if they were hunting animals for sport. Because of the lack of any transportation to the rest of the country except upstream to Tomsk, and the harshness of life in the taiga, any other escapees who made it across the river and evaded the guards were ultimately presumed dead.[17]
Shortly after the deportees had already arrived on Nazino Island, the Yagoda and Berman plan was rejected by Stalin.[18]
Order on the island quickly broke down and devolved into chaos: the majority of the population were city dwellers, most of whom knew nothing about basic agricultural practices such as clearing and cultivation that would make the island properly habitable. The sparsity of resources led to gangs forming, who began using violence to dominate the settlers. People were frequently murdered in fights over food and money, and the bodies of those in possession of anything of value such as gold tooth fillings and crowns were often looted. The guards established their own reign of terror, extorting settlers and executing people for minor offences despite being apathetic towards the gangs. The guards were also assigned to keep the settlers in and killed people who attempted to escape. Even the doctors sent to monitor the island's population, who were supposed to have protection, began to fear for their lives. The lack of proper food and the frequency of death by late May led to cannibalism becoming widespread, to the point that settlers eventually began murdering individuals for the sole purpose of consuming them.
On May 21, the three health officers counted seventy new deaths, with signs of cannibalism observed in five cases. Over the next month, guards arrested about fifty people for cannibalism.
