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NBC New York
Emergency crews stage for rescues in yacht explosion.
Updated at 11:10 p.m. ET: Coast Guard officials suspended a search for a yacht that reportedly exploded off the New Jersey coast, leaving 21 people stranded on life rafts. Officials are now investigating the case as a hoax, according to a statement released late Monday.
An emergency radio transmission came in at 4:20 p.m., saying that the Blind Date, a motor yacht, had exploded 17.5 miles east of Sandy Hook. The caller said nine people were injured but that the 21 people aboard had been accounted for and were floating on life rafts. The caller was not able to provide the boat's precise location because the power had been cut.
Read original story on NBCNewYork.com
But after six hours, a large search effort yielded no hints of a yacht explosion, even though search conditions were ideal, with air and water temperatures in the 60s, Coast Guard spokeswoman Jetta Disco said. Seven aircraft, including helicopters and fixed-wing planes, and two Good Samaritan vessels had combed the area, Disco said.
"In any of these cases, especially when we are on the scene quickly and are unable to locate the reporting vessel, there is always the need to consider the possibility of a hoax," Coast Guard Lt. Joe Klinker told NBC News.
Disco said she did not know whether the yacht had a float plan, which is typical. She said that when she looked up the boat in a database, many vessels named Blind Date came up.
Coast Guard and other state and local agencies responded to more than 60 suspected hoax calls in the northern New Jersey, New York City and Hudson River region in 2011.
Making a false distress call is a federal felony with a maximum penalty of five to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search.
NBC's Jonathan Dienst and msnbc.com's Isolde Raftery contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
They should just tell all boat owners that own a vessel over 26 feet, no EPIRB, no rescue.
Might save responding to a lot of bogus calls.
Great.... Waste the time of People.. who are their to Help... what Dirt bags..
Yachet? Who cares?
looks like that drone was a suscess! maybe it went to jersey and took out a boatload of fist pumping guidos
I was waiting for the part where we meet a hung over, beat up Bruce Willis with an odd-ball partner stumbling upon the truth; that this was all just a ruse. A complicated distraction for some nefarious shenanigans perpetrated by <insert bad guy here>
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Jetta Disco
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2318/2129437398_721097dd5a.jpg
She is a Coast Guard photographer. She has been in on some BIG busts as well.
Big BUSTS?
Real funny stuff. Hopefully the wonders of GPS and cell phone tracking technology will find these idiots in a hurry. Gotta be somebody with some sad, sick sense of humor or a substance-induced "illness".
I have to question the earlier article then...they said a sailboat was at the scene and assisting with the rescue. He was the one to radio it in to the authorities. So was he actually on the yacht and making a hoax call or are they searching in the wrong place?
...and why would they have enough lifeboats for that many people? Ok, maybe it was a big yacht and they were prepared. Then how did they get enough pre-warning to launch the lifeboats before the explosion?
Better yet...where were the lifeboats and IF there were lifeboats, why didn't the people on them give an account as to what happened? Duh! Because there were no lifeboats and no explosion!
More money spent for nothing.
I hope they track down whoever made the call and throw them in the slammer!
LOL
This was a hoax. The CG responded quickly and did not find anything at the scene.
What a waste of resources. Manpower, time and money. Not to mention these men and women who waited for victims that never came. That can stress a person out as well as make them feel jaded towards those who really need rescuing.
Anybody see John Kerry lately?
It was a hoax? Darn, I thought maybe we finally got rid of the entire cast of 'Jersey Shore'.
I know bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people,good things happen to good people, but I believe in karma too. Let's hope these people never need rescuing in the future and no one is available. That would really blow their day.
Lets see, SEA? A boat with 22 People on board and NO FLOAT PLAN withthe US Coast guard? Thats what is wrong with our STINKING Govenment No brains what so ever. ALL Boats, outside five miles distance from the coast should have to file and CLOSE OUT a sea plan, location, time out, time in, estimated time out. people count on board. and the captains name, Phone number and address. This would cut down on DRUGS also. WERE ARE THE BRAINS IN THE GOVERNEMENT?
Government? Sorry I couldn't resist.
Has anyone checked the DOCK Of ownerhship to see if the boat got back? I know sometimes, the rescue people are HUNG up in the STUIPD mode. And they don't look INSIDE THE REFRIGERATOR.
"JETTA DISCO"?!
find the people responsible and give them jail time and huge fines....jerks
Given it's the Jersey Shore, they probably filed the insurance claim the day before they reported the accident.
I was coming home from work right about the time this was all going down. It was a massive rescue. Hope they get the @!$%# that did this.
It was Phil Schiffle-he didn't switch from cable-he saw something he should not have seen. C.mon people! He died his eyebrows after this and attended his own funeral.
People who make this kind of false report should also be charged with recklessly endangering the welfare of the would be rescuers. People have been seriously injured or died during bad weather attempts to rescue accident victims that are not even there.