CNN struggles with geography once locating Hong Kong in South America

One is a landlocked country in Europe, the other is a huge land mass in the middle of the Indian Ocean... but that didn't stop CNN confusing Australia with Austria.

The embarrassing blunder was made during a segment on the Austrian government's plans to erect a fence at its Slovenian border to stop refugees sneaking into the country.

But CNN's graphic editors got confused and aired a graphic stating that 'Australia' - a country almost 8,000 miles outside of Europe - was 'building fence at Slovenian border.'

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CNN mixes up Austria and Australia during a segment on the Austrian government's plans to erect a fence at its Slovenian border to stop refugees sneaking into the country

While the newsreader may have failed to notice the mix up, eagle-eyed viewers were quick to pick up on the mistake, News.com reports.

The network has been mocked mercilessly on Twitter over the hilarious blunder.

Scipio Artelius wrote, sarcastically: 'That's one very active Border Force if they are going that far.

'Ohhh CNN....There's no Kangaroos in Austria #CNN.'

Stephen Lautens added: 'Oh @CNN - do you mean Austria? Otherwise why build a fence when you have sharks & the Great Barrier Reef?'

Matthew Yglesias also tweeted: 'This seems a little paranoid for an island nation thousands of miles away.'

'They are just upset Austria won all those Oscars,' Matthew Farr joked.'

'Come on @CNN Australia is the one w/kangaroos. Austria is where The Terminator was born,' another commentator added.

While one Twitter user wrote: 'When you're too American to know the difference between Austria and Australia.'

The date of the original broadcast is unknown but was likely to have aired last November when news of the controversial fence first broke.

CNN has long-struggled to get to grips with world geography.

Maps and graphics on the network have accidentally relocated France's Cannes, home of its titular international film festival to Spain and Hong Kong, near China, to South America.

Australia seems to be a particular source of confusion for CNN who declared New Zealand's city of Auckland was based there during coverage of New Year Eve celebrations in 2013.

Other embarrassing blunders by the channel include mistaking a flag displaying sex toy symbols for that of terrorist organisation Islamic State, while covering London's Gay Pride parade last year.

CNN confused European country of Austria with Australia which is more than 8,000 miles away

In an 'exclusive' report, a CNN correspondent went on air to claim she was the only one to notice an ISIS jihad flag being waved among gay pride crowds.

But to the broadcaster's embarrassment, the satirical flag was adorned not with Arabic lettering, but symbols of sex toys.

In another famous mistake, CNN declared the president was dead.

During the show, graphics on the news channel stated that a SEAL who shot dead Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had killed Barack Obama.

For nearly a minute, a graphic read 'SEAL who claims he killed Obama under attack', RT reports.