Workers on board an oil rig in the Gulf of Thailand found an unusual and furry friend on their doorstep.

A brown dog was found swimming towards the platform of the rig, with no indication of how he happened to be about 220 kms off the coast. Vitisak Payalaw, a rig worker, said they threw a pole into the water so that he could grab it and be pulled to safety.

“After the dog managed to cling to the pole, he did not make any noise or bark,” Payalaw wrote on Facebook in a post translated by the Bangkok Post. “We tried to find ways to rescue it. Finally, we decided to tie a rope around his neck and pull him to our site. We had to race against time as wind waves might sweep him away.”

The canine was finally rescued and was reportedly in good shape after being fed and given mineral supplements.

Payalaw also posted a video of the dog when it first came up to the rig and pictures during and after the rescue. He speculated that “the dog might have fallen from a fishing trawler or jumped into the sea possibly to escape abuse on the vessel.”