Playa Bagdad, Mexico - The US Department of Defense scrambled to play damage control by claiming that the deployment of contractors to erect threatening signs on a north Mexican beach was just an accident.

The Pentagon finally issued a statement on the sighting of what seemed to be US troops erecting signs on a beach in Mexican territory after crossing the Rio Grande by boat.

According to the DOD, the men sighted by locals were contractors (in full military attire) who accidentally ended up 12 miles south of the US-Mexico border after heading down the coast and landing on a local beach.

They had been hired to plant the signs, which designated the beach a "restricted area" and and a so-called "National Defense Area III" as part of the Trump administration's brutal crackdown on immigration.

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"Changes in water depth and topography altered the perception of the international boundary's location," the DOD said in a statement cited by CBS News.

"Government of Mexico personnel removed six signs based on their perception of the international boundary's location," the statement read, adding that the Pentagon will work with contractors to "avoid confusion in the future."

According to the Pentagon, the contractors only realized their mistake when they were intercepted by the Mexican Navy.

Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement that it had contacted the US Embassy in Mexico about the incident and was coordinating to clarify what went wrong.

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, consultations are beginning that will "review the maps and instruments that mark the border between both countries."