‘We Need a Aircraft to Locate Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Save Relatives Lost Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We became disoriented out there,” the teenager tells the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming 2.5 miles in treacherous, the sea and sprinting 2km to get assistance for his kin.

The operator asks how long has passed since he set off.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we must get a helicopter to search for them,” he reports.

Emergency services have made public the emergency phone call made last month after the boy left his family adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains lucid and collected, even as he details his fear for his kin.

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he tells the dispatcher.

“Mum said go get help … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been swept 2.5 miles out to sea in rough conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mum instructed him to set out and get assistance, so the youth set off, abandoning first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he ran for 1.25 miles to get to a mobile phone.

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

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an medical help because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Getaway in Peril

The group was on a break 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 playing around when the young ones “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

“It pretty much all turned bad very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The parent also referenced having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to ask her son to swim ashore.

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

The Rescue Effort

The youth explained being “extremely winded”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he recalled.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first departed, the stranded individuals were found and brought to safety. They had floated about 9 miles out to sea.

The emergency call was released with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was absolutely critical given how long they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What the boy did was incredibly brave. His heroic actions in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The commander also commended how the teenager clearly relayed key facts.

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

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