We Must Have a Chopper to Go Find Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Loved Ones Adrift Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager tells the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim 4km in treacherous, the sea and jogging two kilometres to secure help for his household.

The dispatcher inquires how much time has elapsed since he set off.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we must get a helicopter to locate them,” he reports.

Authorities have made public the distress call made previously after the youth left his relatives adrift at sea off the West Australian coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he voices his fear for his kin.

“I have no idea about what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he tells the dispatcher.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in massive trouble.”

The Perilous Situation

The mother and children had been carried four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His parent instructed him to take his kayak and get assistance, so the teenager commenced, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After reaching land – four hours later – he ran for two kilometres to access a phone.

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

“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 completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The family was on holiday in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later described that they were having fun when the children “went out a bit too far”. The conditions worsened, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she noted.

The parent also spoke of having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to ask her son to make the swim for help.

“I knew he was the most capable and he could do it,” she stated.

The Rescue Effort

The boy explained being “very puffed out”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first began, the stranded individuals were spotted and rescued. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The audio was shared with the family’s permission.

A forward commander who managed the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

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

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

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

When asked to identify the boards for the search crew, the youth responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

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