The U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Air Force have suspended a search for a possible person in the water and a child left unattended in a vessel following a distress call Monday morning.
The transmission was picked up around 10:45am and appears to have been made by a child. It says “My papa fell in the water. I need help.”
Crews searched continuously for eight hours, covering 2,739 square nautical miles of western Lake Erie before suspending the search around 8pm.
No further transmissions were made and the Coast Guard was unable to hail the vessel, according to U.S. Coast Guard Command Centre Chief Lt. Ben Chamberlain.
"There has been nothing reported that matches up with the distress call. No one's over due, no missing persons," he says. "When we say we're suspending a search, it doesn't mean we've given up. If someone is reported overdue or their is something to support the need to go back out, we'll resume things."
He told AM800 News they were unable to triangulate the location of the vessel but "have determined it came from western Lake Erie."
Sector Detroit launched a helicopter from Air Station Detroit, a response boat from Coast Guard Station Marblehead Ohio, and requested long range air support from Canada’s Rescue Coordination Center in Trenton, Ontario.
Rescue Coordination Center Trenton provided a C-130 fixed-wing-aircraft to aid in the search.
"We've searched just about everywhere you could within the search area," says Chamberlain.
Chamberlain did acknowledge the possibility a child simply got ahold of the radio and cried wolf.
"We treat things like this seriously no matter what," he said.
While he hopes it was simply a mischievous child, he goes on to say, "it is a federal crime to call in a false report. you could face jail time and may have to pay for the cost of the search."
Tying up resources could cost lives, Chamberlain says.
He asks anyone with information contact the U.S. Coast Guard via VHF channel 16 or at 313-568-9560.