Yesterday we reported that a yacht had exploded on the coast of NJ. Well now there are reports surfacing that the incident is a hoax. Click below to read more.

Melissa Nash

There’s something fishy about this “Blind Date.”

An SOS call Monday that claimed a yacht called “Blind Date” had exploded off the New Jersey coast with 21 people aboard appears to have been a big hoax.

The U.S. Coast Guard received the distress call at about 4:20 p.m. from someone using a solar-powered radio who said they had abandoned ship about 17 miles off of Sandy Hook. All passengers and crew supposedly fled into life boats, and seven people were said to be injured. The caller said the yacht sunk.

Two rescue helicopters were dispatched, and vessels were sent to the site as well, but after almost five hours of fruitless searching, the rescue efforts were called off.

“There have been no signs of debris and no life rafts,” Coast Guard spokesman Thomas McKenzie said. “We’ve tried to reach out to the boat without success.”

McKenzie stopped short of calling it a hoax, saying: “I can’t make that call at this time.”

The Coast Guard has not closed its case, however, and is examining what steps to take next — an indication they will be trying to track down the mystery caller.