‘We Need a Aircraft to Locate Them’: Teenager’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Stranded Off Down Under Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager informs the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 2.5 miles in choppy, the sea and running 2km to summon rescue for his family.

The call taker questions how much time has gone by since he began.

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

Police have released the distress call made in recent weeks after the teen left his loved ones drifting at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

His voice remains steady and composed, even as he voices his concern for his family members.

“I have no idea about what their state is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the person on the line.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The holidaymakers had been pulled four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mum asked him to set out and locate rescue, so the youth began, ditching first his failing kayak then his bulky flotation device to swim the distance.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he sprinted for 1.25 miles to access 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 states the call handler.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The family was on a break in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later recalled that they were playing around when the kids “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

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

The mother also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to instruct her son to make the swim for help.

“I knew he was the most capable and he was able to manage it,” she said.

The Rescue Effort

The teenager explained being “completely out of breath”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he said.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first set out, the group were found and brought to safety. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.

The emergency call was shared with the family’s permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the operation said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was of the essence given how long they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also praised how the youth clearly relayed vital details.

When asked to describe the equipment for the search crew, the youth replied: “They were coloured green and white.”

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