We Require a Aircraft to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Distress Call to Save Relatives Stranded Off Aussie Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” the teenager explains to the 000 call handler, after swimming 2.5 miles in rough, the sea and sprinting 2km to get assistance for his kin.

The call taker inquires how much time has passed since he started out.

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

Emergency services have made public the distress call made last month after the youth departed from his loved ones floating at sea off the WA coast to fetch help.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he details his worry for his family members.

“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the dispatcher.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in serious danger.”

The Perilous Situation

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

His mum urged him to use his craft and find help, so the teenager commenced, abandoning first his failing kayak then his bulky flotation device to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he raced for 1.25 miles to get to a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells the emergency services.

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later explained that they were enjoying themselves when the children “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they lost their oars, and started floating away.

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

The mother also referenced having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim ashore.

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy recalled being “extremely winded”.

“I just continued swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he explained.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first set out, the family were located and saved. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The emergency call was made public with the mother’s permission.

A forward commander who oversaw the rescue mission said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“What the teenager did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The commander also commended how the teenager clearly relayed vital details.

When asked to describe the boards for the search crew, the teenager said: “They were green and white.”

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