Ahoy! Alaska Man Makes Waves In Russia After Mistakenly Sailing There

CHUKOTKA, RUSSIA JUNE 23, 2018: Boats on the Bering Sea coast. Yuri Smityuk/TASS (Photo by Yuri SmityukTASS via Getty Images)
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MOSCOW (AP) — Officials in Moscow say a U.S. citizen has been detained in Russia’s Far East after accidently sailing there from Alaska on a small boat.

John Martin had been traveling down the Yukon River across Alaska on a one-person boat when he ended up in the open Bering Sea, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. He spent several days at sea in bad weather and eventually washed up on Russian shores.

Martin, who lives in Anchorage, was detained Wednesday by Russian officials in the Far Eastern region of Chukotka. The U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok was informed about the incident.

Zakharova told reporters Friday in Moscow that Martin’s condition was “satisfactory.”

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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  1. Avatar for drtv drtv says:

    Former Alaskan here. This can happen. I worked with someone who was out walrus hunting with some others in the Bering Sea and were adrift/lost for 3 weeks before being rescued. You can read about it here:

    Not surprising at all that this guy washed up in Russia.

  2. Avatar for tao tao says:

    He was trying to get to China but landed in Chukotka. Columbus would understand. Sarah screeched at him to turn right but he wouldn’t listen.

  3. “I can see Russia from my back yard!”

  4. Really, Todd? You could just get a divorce like regular folk.

  5. Scouting out an exit route for Dotard, when he flees prosecution?

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