NEW YORK — Similarities in a caller's voice and phrasings have led the Coast Guard to believe there's a link between a hoax distress call reporting a yacht explosion off New Jersey and a mayday call in Texas last month.
Coast Guard Capt. Gregory Hitchen said Wednesday that authorities are investigating a possible link after noticing the calls' similarities.
The hoax emergency call from the yacht came in around 4:20 p.m. June 11. The caller claimed there were three dead, nine injured and 20 in the water off Sandy Hook, N.J.
Nothing was found, and authorities later determined the hoax call came from land.
The Coast Guard last month searched for six people reported missing after a mayday call saying they were abandoning their sinking fishing boat in the waters off Galveston, Texas.
