We Must Have a Helicopter to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Distress Call to Aid Family Stranded Off Aussie Coast Revealed

“We became disoriented out there,” the teenager tells the 000 call handler, having swum four kilometres in rough, open water and sprinting two kilometres to summon rescue for his household.

The dispatcher questions how long has passed since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we need a helicopter to search for them,” he states.

Police have released the emergency phone call made previously after the youth departed from his relatives adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he details his worry for his family members.

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m really scared,” he informs the person on the line.

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

The Perilous Situation

The mother and children had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in treacherous conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His parent urged him to set out and find help, so the boy began, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his unwieldy PFD to make the journey by swimming.

After reaching land – after an extensive period – he raced for 2km to access a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have younger siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells the operator.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

The woman later recalled that they were playing around when the young ones “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they were separated from their equipment, and started floating away.

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

The mother also described having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to send her son to swim to land.

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

The Successful Mission

The youth recalled being “completely out of breath”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he explained.

The call for help was made at around 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, many hours after they first began, the family were located and saved. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The emergency call was shared with the family’s permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was of the essence given how much time they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a rescue.”

The commander also highlighted how the youth effectively communicated critical information.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the authorities, the youth replied: “They were green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s still on, but they had this rod, and there was a fish hooked. As we managed to catch a fish.”