The New York Times posted a story detailing the dramatic escape from captivity of an American rock climber, Tommy Caldwell; in doing so, however, they misnamed the location of the events, prompting a flurry of parody tweets.

MOSCOW, January 9 (Sputnik) – The World Wide Web has happily embraced a new country which was accidentally invented by The New York Times.

On Wednesday, the newspaper released the courageous story of an American rock climber, Tommy Caldwell, who was kidnapped in Central Asia but miraculously managed to escape; however, this sensational tale made its own headlines due to its alleged setting: Kyrzbekistan.

A message from the President-For-Life of the Republic of @kyrzbekistan pic.twitter.com/mDbvRUbNmz — Jeremy Nicholl (@Russian_Photos) 8 января 2015

The name is apparently derived from those of two former Soviet republics in Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

While the august media outlet was quick to correct its blunder, it was unable to do so before news of the gaffe went viral, prompting satirists to provide the fictional fledgling nation with its own Twitter account, place on the map, national anthem and foreign policy dilemmas.

Some have even been successful in finding its exact location.

Others jokingly supposed which politicians would be quick to recognize it.

BREAKING: Former British PM in talks to offer "strategic advice" to president-for-life of #Kyrzbekistan Kyrzbekbashi. — Oliver Bullough (@OliverBullough) 8 января 2015

Wonders whether Sarah Palin can see #Kyrzbekistan from her house too. #nytimes — mdtoorder (@mdtoorder) 9 января 2015

And while most of the users were quite happy with the emergence of a new nation, some seemed not to accept it.