We Require a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Loved Ones Adrift Off Australian Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the 000 call handler, having swum 2.5 miles in treacherous, open ocean and jogging 2km to get assistance for his family.

The dispatcher asks how much time has passed since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re far offshore. I think we must get a helicopter to go find them,” he reports.

Emergency services have released the distress call made last month after the youth departed from his loved ones drifting at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he voices his fear for his family.

“I am unsure of what their state is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the dispatcher.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

The family group had been swept 2.5 miles out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum instructed him to set out and locate rescue, so the boy set off, discarding first his failing kayak then his bulky flotation device to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he ran for two kilometres to retrieve 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 operator.

“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 heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

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

The woman later recalled that they were enjoying themselves when the children “ventured out too far”. The wind picked up, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she remarked.

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

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

The Successful Mission

The teenager explained being “extremely winded”.

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

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

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

The audio was made public with the parents' permission.

A forward commander who oversaw the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was absolutely critical given how much time they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the teenager did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also commended how the boy clearly relayed critical information.

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

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this fishing line, and there was a fish hooked. Because we managed to catch a fish.”