Nothing Turns Up After Mayday Call from Bel Marin Keys

Rescuers searched the waters of Bel Marin Keys for more than an hour Thursday after the U.S. Coast Guard received a mayday call from someone believed to be a boater, but nothing turned up and nobody has been reported missing, a official said.

"Somebody sent a message saying, 'Mayday! Mayday! Help me' to the Coast Guard, so we were notified and sent our closest resources," said Novato Fire Battalion Chief Gerald McCarthy.

After receiving a support call at 11:37 a.m., Novato Fire sent three units and the Coast Guard base in San Francisco responded with a helicopter. Fire boat Liberty from the Southern Marin Fire Department made the trip as well, and a rescue diver and swimmer were called in, McCarthy said. The search was completed at 1:02 p.m.

"We did a group search by air, water and land and were not able to locate anything," he said. "Certainly we have to treat these as real as if the report is legitimate. ... The Coast Guard thought it was a young person who made the call, a child or a female of a small frame. At least that was the impression given."

If it was a false alarm, at least the agencies got a chance to practice their responses, McCarthy said.

"Certainly these things are hair-raising," he said.