‘We Need a Aircraft to Search For Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Emergency Call to Aid Family Adrift Off Down Under Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming four kilometres in rough, open ocean and running 2km to get assistance for his family.

The operator asks how long has passed since he set off.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re far offshore. I think we require a helicopter to go find them,” he reports.

Police have made public the recorded plea made previously after the boy left his loved ones floating at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His tone remains clear and calm, even as he expresses his concern for his kin.

“I don’t know what their state is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the person on the line.

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

The Perilous Situation

The mother and children had been swept four kilometres out to sea in rough conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His mum instructed him to set out and locate rescue, so the teenager began, abandoning first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he ran for two kilometres to access 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 located 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 utterly fatigued. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

The mother later recalled that they were having fun when the children “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

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

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

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

The Search Operation

The youth recalled being “extremely winded”.

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

The emergency call was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first departed, the family were located and saved. They had drifted about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

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

A police sergeant 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 much time they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What Austin did was incredibly brave. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The sergeant also highlighted how the teenager effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to detail the boards for the authorities, the boy 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 on there. Since we hooked one.”