‘We Need a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: Teenager’s Emergency Call to Save Family Lost Off Down Under Coast Unveiled
“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the 000 call handler, after swimming 2.5 miles in treacherous, the sea and jogging 2km to summon rescue for his kin.
The operator inquires how much time has passed since he started out.
“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we require a rescue aircraft to search for them,” he reports.
Authorities have made public the emergency phone call made last month after the teen left his relatives drifting at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.
His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he expresses his fear for his family.
“I don’t know what their state is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he tells the operator.
“Mum said go get help … We were in serious danger.”
The Perilous Situation
The family group had been pulled four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.
His mum instructed him to take his kayak and get assistance, so the teenager set off, discarding first his sinking craft then his unwieldy PFD to make the journey by swimming.
After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 2km to retrieve a 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 operator.
“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”
A Vacation Gone Wrong
The group was on vacation in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.
The woman later described that they were playing around when the children “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started being carried out.
“It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.
The parent also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to send her son to swim ashore.
“I knew he was the strongest and he had the ability to succeed,” she stated.
The Successful Mission
The teenager described being “very puffed out”.
“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do elementary backstroke,” he explained.
The call for help was made at around 6pm.
At about 8.30pm, ten hours after they first set out, the family were found and brought to safety. They had drifted about fourteen kilometres out to sea.
The recording was shared with the parents' permission.
A police sergeant who coordinated the operation said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.
“They were in genuine danger, 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 incredibly brave. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”
The sergeant also commended how the youth effectively communicated critical information.
When asked to detail the boards for the search crew, the teenager responded: “They were a green and white colour.”
“And I’m not sure if it’s still attached, but they had this rod, and there was a fish hooked. Because we managed to catch a fish.”
