‘We Need a Chopper to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Relatives Adrift Off Australian Coast Disclosed

“We became disoriented out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the emergency operator, after swimming four kilometres in treacherous, the sea and sprinting two kilometres to get assistance for his household.

The dispatcher asks how long has elapsed since he set off.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a helicopter to locate them,” he states.

Authorities have released the emergency phone call made previously after the boy left his family floating at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

His voice remains steady and composed, even as he voices his worry for his family.

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

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

The Dangerous Incident

The holidaymakers had been swept 2.5 miles out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mother asked him to use his craft and find help, so the boy commenced, discarding first his waterlogged vessel then his unwieldy PFD to cover the remaining stretch.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he raced for two kilometres to get to a phone.

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

“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 completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The group was on vacation in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “went out a bit too far”. The wind picked up, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to instruct her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy recalled being “very puffed out”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The emergency call was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the stranded individuals were located and saved. They had floated about 9 miles out to sea.

The recording was made public with the mother’s permission.

A forward commander who oversaw the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was extremely pressing given how long they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the teenager did was incredibly brave. His heroic actions in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The commander also commended how the boy clearly relayed key facts.

When asked to describe the equipment for the search crew, the boy 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 caught one.”