We Must Have a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Rescue Loved Ones Adrift Off Down Under Coast Unveiled

“We became disoriented out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum four kilometres in treacherous, the sea and jogging 2km to get assistance for his kin.

The call taker asks how much time has elapsed since he started out.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we require a chopper to go find them,” he reports.

Police have made public the distress call made previously after the teen departed from his relatives floating at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.

His voice remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his fear for his family members.

“I have no idea about what their condition is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the person on the line.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in serious danger.”

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in stormy conditions while enjoying water sports.

His parent urged him to set out and find help, so the boy set off, ditching first his sinking craft then his bulky flotation device to swim the distance.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 1.25 miles to access a cell phone.

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

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

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

The parent later recalled that they were having fun when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The conditions worsened, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

“It sort of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.

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

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

The Rescue Effort

The teenager described being “extremely winded”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first departed, the group were located and saved. They had been carried about 9 miles out to sea.

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

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

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was of the essence given how long they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the boy 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 officer also praised how the boy effectively communicated critical information.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the rescue team, the youth said: “They were coloured green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s still attached, but they had this rod, and there was a catch on the line. Since we managed to catch a fish.”