Audio recordings released by the Coast Guard capture the distress of a family who was rescued two days after their boat caught fire and sank, forcing them to swim to a private island.

The Houston Fire Department was called just before 5:30 a.m. for an apartment complex on fire, and a mayday call was initiated after 3 firefighters were hurt.

The financial toll of the false distress calls is just one of the problems caused by the hoax calls. "They're a bigger problem than you might think," Lt. Rachel Rychtanek, a pilot for the U.S. Coast Guard. And if the Coast Guard is responding to a false distress call they cannot pull off it to take another call. The Coast Guard has investigators whose job is to try to track down those responsible for false distress calls. For more information on false distress calls and the costs U.S. Coast Guard can incur, tap or click here.