We Require a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Emergency Call to Save Loved Ones Adrift Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We became disoriented out there,” a 13-year-old boy informs the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 2.5 miles in choppy, open ocean and sprinting 2km to summon rescue for his kin.

The operator asks how much time has gone by since he began.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re far offshore. I think we must get a helicopter to go find them,” he states.

Police have made public the recorded plea made previously after the boy departed from his relatives drifting at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His voice remains steady and composed, even as he details his worry for his family.

“I don’t know what their state is right now, and I’m really scared,” he informs the operator.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

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

His mother asked him to use his craft and find help, so the youth began, discarding first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he raced for 2km to access a mobile phone.

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

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also add – 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 heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

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

“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also spoke of having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to send her son to swim to land.

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

The Successful Mission

The boy described being “extremely winded”.

“I just keep swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he said.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the family were found and brought to safety. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

The emergency call was shared with the mother’s permission.

A senior officer who oversaw the operation said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was absolutely critical given how much time they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the teenager did was nothing short of extraordinary. His bravery and courage in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also commended how the boy calmly conveyed vital details.

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

“And I’m not sure if it’s still on, but they had this fishing rod, and there was a fish on there. As we hooked one.”