We Require a Helicopter to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Family Adrift Off Australian Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager explains to the emergency operator, having swum 4km in rough, open water and running 1.25 miles to secure help for his family.

The dispatcher questions how much time has elapsed since he set off.

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

Authorities have disclosed the recorded plea made last month after the boy departed from his family adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to find rescuers.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he details his fear for his kin.

“I am unsure of what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he confides in the operator.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in stormy conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mother urged him to use his craft and find help, so the boy commenced, discarding first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he sprinted for two kilometres to get to a phone.

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

“I’m positioned 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 hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The family was on a break in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later recalled that they were playing around when the children “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they were separated from their equipment, and started floating away.

“It kind of all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she said.

The mother also referenced having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to ask her son to make the swim for help.

“I knew he was the strongest and he had the ability to succeed,” she said.

The Rescue Effort

The youth described being “completely out of breath”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The emergency call was made at around 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the stranded individuals were found and brought to safety. They had floated about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The recording was released with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the rescue mission said the family 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 light running out.

“What the boy did was truly remarkable. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a rescue.”

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

When asked to detail the equipment for the authorities, the teenager responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

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