‘We Need a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Distress Call to Aid Loved Ones Adrift Off Aussie Coast Disclosed

“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy explains to the 000 call handler, having swum four kilometres in rough, open ocean and jogging 1.25 miles to secure help for his family.

The operator questions how much time has elapsed since he started out.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we need a rescue aircraft to go find them,” he reports.

Emergency services have released the emergency phone call made last month after the teen departed from his relatives floating at sea off the WA coast to fetch help.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he details his concern for his family.

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

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in massive trouble.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been swept four kilometres out to sea in rough conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His parent urged him to take his kayak and locate rescue, so the teenager set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he ran for two kilometres to get to a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells the emergency services.

“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 hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The family was on vacation 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 young ones “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they were separated from their equipment, and started floating away.

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

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

“I knew he was the best swimmer and he had the ability to succeed,” she stated.

The Successful Mission

The boy recalled being “very puffed out”.

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

The distress call was made at about 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first set out, the group were located and saved. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The audio was shared with the parents' permission.

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

“They were in real trouble, and time was absolutely critical given how long they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What the boy did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The officer also highlighted how the boy effectively communicated critical information.

When asked to identify the boards for the search crew, the youth responded: “They were green and white.”

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