‘Stateless American’ found on raft

SWEDISH authorities are trying to solve the puzzle surrounding a man calling himself a “stateless American” who was found floating on a raft in the waters between Denmark and Norway on Friday.

The man claimed he had been thrown off a ship several days earlier.

He was found by a Norwegian oil tanker on Friday morning, floating in the Skagerak sea on a raft made up of four oil barrels held together by a frame of wooden planks.

He asked to be taken in by Swedish authorities, but police said they were mystified by the man as he has refused to say why he allegedly was thrown off a ship and shielded his face from media photographers at a port in southern Sweden.

“If he was thrown off a ship, they must have thrown off the raft for him to sit on as well, so I don’t know,” Swedish marine police spokesman Bengt Albinsson said. “We are trying to figure out the circumstances, but we will have to see how much he wants to tell us.”

The man had no identification, but spoke perfect English and told police his name was George Williams, police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

He claimed to be a “stateless American” but born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1959, Mr Fuxborg said.

“He says he has lived for a long time in the USA, but does not want to say where,” Mr Fuxborg said. “He has worked in Europe, but does not want say where and with what. He is not seeking asylum in Sweden but wants to go to New York.”

The man was taken to a hospital in southern Sweden to be treated for dehydration and a frostbitten foot, but did not seem seriously injured, authorities said.

He will be held in police custody until today, when authorities will contact the US Embassy to try to confirm his identity.