We Require a Helicopter to Search For Them’: Teenager’s Distress Call to Save Relatives Stranded Off Down Under Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 4km in choppy, open ocean and running 1.25 miles to secure help for his kin.

The call taker inquires 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 rescue aircraft to go find them,” he reports.

Police have disclosed the distress call made last month after the boy left his relatives drifting at sea off the West Australian coast to seek assistance.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he voices his concern for his family members.

“I am unsure of what their status is right now, and I’m terrified,” he confides in the person on the line.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in serious danger.”

The Perilous Situation

The family group had been pulled 2.5 miles out to sea in stormy conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His mum urged him to take his kayak and find help, so the youth commenced, abandoning first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 2km to get to 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 explains the call handler.

“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 exposure … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

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

The parent later explained that they were playing around when the children “ventured out too far”. The wind picked up, they lost their oars, and started being carried out.

“It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.

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

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy explained being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he said.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the family were located and saved. They had been carried about 9 miles out to sea.

The audio was released with the family’s permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the family 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 daylight fading.

“What the teenager did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The commander also commended how the boy calmly conveyed vital details.

When asked to identify the boards for the authorities, the boy responded: “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 fish hooked. As we managed to catch a fish.”