‘We Need a Helicopter to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Lost Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy informs the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming 4km in choppy, open ocean and sprinting 2km to get assistance for his household.

The call taker inquires how long has elapsed since he began.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we require a chopper to go find them,” he states.

Authorities have disclosed the distress call made previously after the boy departed from his family adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

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

“I have no idea about what their condition is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the dispatcher.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been pulled four kilometres out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum urged him to use his craft and get assistance, so the boy commenced, ditching first his failing kayak then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After reaching land – four hours later – he raced for 2km to retrieve 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 emergency services.

“I’m sitting 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 extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Getaway in Peril

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

The woman later explained that they were playing around when the children “ventured out too far”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

“It kind of all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she said.

The parent also described having to make “a terribly difficult call” to ask her son to swim ashore.

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

The Search Operation

The youth recalled being “completely out of breath”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do elementary backstroke,” he said.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, ten hours after they first departed, the family were located and saved. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

The recording was released with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who managed 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 night approaching.

“What Austin did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

The commander also commended how the youth effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to detail the paddleboards 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 line, and there was a fish on there. Since we caught one.”