‘We Need a Chopper to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Distress Call to Save Family Adrift Off Australian Coast Unveiled

“We got lost out there,” the teenager explains to the 000 call handler, after swimming 4km in rough, open ocean and jogging two kilometres to summon rescue for his household.

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

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we require a helicopter to search for them,” he states.

Police have disclosed the emergency phone call made last month after the boy left his relatives drifting at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he details his concern for his family.

“I am unsure of 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 serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been carried four kilometres out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mother asked him to use his craft and find help, so the boy set off, abandoning first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he ran for 1.25 miles to access a phone.

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

“I’m located 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 sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

The parent later described that they were playing around when the kids “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

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

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

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

The Search Operation

The teenager explained being “extremely winded”.

“I just pressed on, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he explained.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, ten hours after they first began, the family were found and brought to safety. They had floated about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

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

A senior officer who coordinated the operation said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“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 heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also praised how the boy clearly relayed key facts.

When asked to identify the equipment for the search crew, the youth replied: “They were 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. Since we managed to catch a fish.”