An American mistakenly sailed from Alaska to Russia’s Far East region of Chukotka — and is now being held by authorities overseas, according to a published report.

John Martin was lost at sea for several days when his one-person rubber dinghy veered from the Yukon River to the Bering Sea. The vessel eventually washed up on the Chukotka coast, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“About two weeks ago, he decided to take to the open sea,” she said, according to the BBC. “Due to inclement weather and because he lacked navigation equipment, he spent several days in the open sea. This is how he ended up in the Russian Federation.”

According to Zakharova, Martin is in “satisfactory” condition and a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow confirmed it’s working with local authorities to assist him.

Martin dropped anchor near the coastal village of Lavrentiya, which is about 55 miles from Alaska.

The Anchorage local said he had been been fishing on Alaska’s coast when he decided to sail to China, but landed in Russia instead, a person close to the investigation told the BBC.

With Post Wires