We Require a Helicopter to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Distress Call to Rescue Relatives Adrift Off Down Under Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim 4km in treacherous, open water and jogging two kilometres to summon rescue for his family.

The operator questions how long has elapsed since he started out.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a helicopter to search for them,” he reports.

Police have made public the recorded plea made previously after the boy left his loved ones floating at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.

His voice remains steady and composed, even as he expresses his fear for his kin.

“I don’t know what their state is right now, and I’m terrified,” he tells the operator.

“Mum said go get help … We were in massive trouble.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in rough conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mother instructed him to set out and find help, so the boy began, ditching first his failing kayak then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After reaching land – four hours later – he raced for 1.25 miles to get to a mobile phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he explains the call handler.

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an medical help because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The holidaymakers was on a break in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were having fun when the kids “ventured out too far”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

“It sort of all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also described having to make “a terribly difficult call” to ask her son to swim to land.

“I knew he was the strongest and he could do it,” she said.

The Rescue Effort

The boy recalled being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The emergency call was made at around 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, many hours after they first set out, the group were found and brought to safety. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The emergency call was made public with the family’s permission.

A senior officer who managed the operation said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was extremely pressing given how much time they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The sergeant also praised how the teenager calmly conveyed critical information.

When asked to detail the equipment for the rescue team, the boy responded: “They were green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s still on, but they had this fishing line, and there was a fish on there. Because we hooked one.”