‘We Need a Chopper to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Loved Ones Lost Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the emergency operator, having swum four kilometres in rough, open ocean and sprinting two kilometres to secure help for his household.

The operator asks how much time has gone by since he started out.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we must get a rescue aircraft to locate them,” he says.

Emergency services have disclosed the emergency phone call made in recent weeks after the teen departed from his relatives drifting at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he expresses his concern for his kin.

“I am unsure of what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he informs the person on the line.

“Mum said go get help … We were in grave peril.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

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

His mother urged him to use his craft and locate rescue, so the youth set off, ditching first his failing kayak then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After making it to shore – after an extensive period – he ran for 1.25 miles to get to a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the emergency services.

“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 a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

The woman later described that they were having fun when the children “drifted further than intended”. The conditions worsened, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The mother also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim to land.

“I knew he was the best swimmer and he could do it,” she commented.

The Rescue Effort

The boy explained being “extremely winded”.

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

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

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

The recording was shared with the family’s permission.

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

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

“What the teenager did was nothing short of extraordinary. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The sergeant also highlighted how the youth effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to identify the paddleboards for the rescue team, the boy replied: “They were coloured green and white.”

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