Coast Guard: distress call from girl may be hoax

The U.S. Coast Guard says that a distress call from a young girl who identified herself only as "Kelsey" was possibly a hoax.

SEATTLE —

The U.S. Coast Guard says that a distress call from a young girl who identified herself only as "Kelsey" was possibly a hoax.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, a caller who said she was a 6-year-old girl talked of somebody named "Kelly" in the water and "not waking up." Then the transmission ended.

The Coast Guard deployed a helicopter and a small boat to the waters around Fox Island in south Puget Sound in response.

The Coast Guard says that if the call was a hoax, whoever did it could face six years in prison, a $250,000 fine and possible reimbursement of the search costs. Making a false call is federal felony.

Tuesday's search cost more than $38,000.

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