‘We Need a Chopper to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Urgent Plea to Save Relatives Adrift Off Aussie Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy informs the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming 2.5 miles in choppy, open ocean and jogging 2km to get assistance for his family.

The operator questions how much time has elapsed since he began.

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

Police have released the recorded plea made last month after the teen departed from his loved ones drifting at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.

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

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

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in grave peril.”

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been pulled four kilometres out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother asked him to set out and find help, so the teenager began, abandoning first his sinking craft then his bulky flotation device to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he ran for two kilometres to access a mobile phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, 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 explain – I think I need an ambulance 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 collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later described that they were playing around when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

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

The parent also spoke of having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the most capable and he was able to manage it,” she stated.

The Search Operation

The youth explained being “extremely winded”.

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

The call for help was made at around 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first began, the stranded individuals were spotted and rescued. They had floated about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The audio was made public with the mother’s permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the rescue mission said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was extremely pressing given how much time they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

The sergeant also commended how the youth clearly relayed vital details.

When asked to describe the boards for the rescue team, the youth responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s still attached, but they had this fishing line, and there was a catch on the line. Because we hooked one.”