‘We Need a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Save Loved Ones Adrift Off Aussie Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee informs the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming 4km in treacherous, open water and sprinting 2km to summon rescue for his household.

The call taker inquires how long has gone by since he started out.

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

Emergency services have released the recorded plea made last month after the boy left his loved ones adrift at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His voice remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his fear for his family members.

“I have no idea about what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he confides in the dispatcher.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been carried 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mum asked him to set out and find help, so the youth commenced, ditching first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted 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 explains the emergency services.

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

A Getaway in Peril

The holidaymakers was on a break in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later recalled that they were playing around when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The wind picked up, they lost their oars, and started floating away.

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

The mother also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to send her son to swim to land.

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

The Rescue Effort

The teenager described being “very puffed out”.

“I just continued swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the group were located and saved. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.

The audio was released with the mother’s permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the rescue mission said the group was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was of the essence given how long they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

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

The commander also highlighted how the boy clearly relayed vital details.

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

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