We Must Have a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Save Relatives Stranded Off Down Under Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” the teenager informs the emergency operator, following a swim 2.5 miles in rough, the sea and sprinting two kilometres to summon rescue for his family.

The operator inquires how long has gone by since he started out.

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

Police have released the emergency phone call made previously after the boy departed from his relatives adrift at sea off the West Australian coast to seek assistance.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he expresses his concern for his family members.

“I have no idea about what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the operator.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

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

His mother urged him to set out and locate rescue, so the boy began, ditching first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 1.25 miles to retrieve a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells 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 exposure … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Getaway in Peril

The holidaymakers was on vacation in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later explained that they were having fun when the young ones “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

“It sort of all turned bad very, very quickly,” she said.

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

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

The Search Operation

The teenager described being “completely out of breath”.

“I just continued swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he said.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, many hours after they first set out, the stranded individuals were spotted and rescued. They had floated about 9 miles out to sea.

The audio was released with the mother’s permission.

A forward commander who oversaw the rescue mission said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was of the essence given how much time 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 astonishing, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

The sergeant also praised how the teenager clearly relayed critical information.

When asked to identify the paddleboards for the authorities, the teenager responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

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