Search Continues for Unidentified Family of Four, Including Two Children Missing at Sea West of Monterey Bay off the California Coast (Update: Hoax?)

The search continues for the unidentified family of four, including two children under the age of 8, who are missing at sea west of Monterey Bay off the Central California coast. The individuals are reported to have made their first distress call late Sunday afternoon aboard a 29-foot sailboat was taking on water and the electronics were failing. The Coast Guard released one of the family’s recorded distress calls ( http://bit.ly/W90cyv ), in hopes that it would lead to new information from the public that could help in the search.; however, the agency has received no reports of missing persons in the case. The agency believes the boat’s name was Charmblow. In the crackling recording, a man’s voice is heard saying, “Coast Guard, Coast Guard, we are abandoning ship. This is the (Charmblow), we are abandoning ship.” According to reports, they had no life rafts on board.

Authorities have turned to the public in hopes of identifying a family that sent a series of distress calls saying their boat was sinking far off the Central California coast.

“There is still no information on where the boat was coming from, where it was going or who the people on board are,” said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz.

The unidentified family of four — including two children under 8 — had been sailing a small vessel Sunday west of Monterey Bay. Forecasters had issued a weekend advisory warning boaters of rough seas in the area, and water temperatures typically are in the 40s and 50s, making long-term survival difficult.

The group made its first distress call late Sunday afternoon, said Coast Guard Lt. Heather Lampert. Investigators used the boat’s radio signal and radar to determine the call came from an area about 60 miles west of Monterey.

The boaters reported that their 29-foot sailboat was taking on water and the electronics were failing.

VIDEO from ABC News.

UPDATE I: Search for boat, missing family ends off California … HOAX?

The search for the presumed missing boat and the four unnamed individuals aboard has come to an end. The Coast Guard is questioning as to whether the claims of the missing boat was a hoax. There had been no reports of the missing family or any registration of the vessel in question.

Rescuers have stopped searching the cold Pacific Ocean for a couple, two young children and a sinking sailboat as questions of a hoax arise amid no reports of the missing family or any registration of the vessel in question.

The Coast Guard on Tuesday called off the search for a boat that reportedly sank in rough seas far off the Central California coast, saying nothing more could be done and that the family’s distress calls might have been a hoax.

“We’ve exhausted the possibilities,” Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz said. The Coast Guard is treating the incident as a rescue, with the possibility the calls came from a trickster.

Coast Guard Executive Officer Noah Hudson in Monterey said it was tough to call off a search, but that if it was a hoax, “it’s unfortunate that we were forced to use so many resources for so much time.”