‘We Need a Helicopter to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Family Adrift Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy informs the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming 4km in rough, the sea and sprinting 1.25 miles to summon rescue for his kin.

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

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re far offshore. I think we require a rescue aircraft to locate them,” he reports.

Emergency services have disclosed the distress call made last month after the youth left his relatives adrift at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His demeanour remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his worry for his family.

“I don’t know what their state is right now, and I’m terrified,” he tells the person on the line.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The family group had been pulled 4km out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother instructed him to set out and get assistance, so the teenager set off, abandoning first his failing kayak then his unwieldy PFD to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted for 2km to access a cell phone.

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

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an medical help because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Getaway in Peril

The family was on vacation in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later described that they were playing around when the young ones “went out a bit too far”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

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

The parent also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to ask her son to swim ashore.

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy described being “very puffed out”.

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

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first set out, the group were found and brought to safety. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

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

A forward commander who coordinated the rescue mission said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

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

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

The officer also highlighted how the teenager effectively communicated vital details.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the authorities, the youth responded: “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 on there. As we managed to catch a fish.”