We Require a Helicopter to Locate Them’: Teenager’s Distress Call to Save Family Stranded Off Australian Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager explains to the 000 call handler, following a swim four kilometres in treacherous, open water and jogging two kilometres to secure help for his household.

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

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

Police have made public the recorded plea made previously after the teen departed from his loved ones drifting at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he voices his worry for his family members.

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

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in massive trouble.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been carried four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mum urged him to set out and locate rescue, so the teenager commenced, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his bulky flotation device to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – after an extensive period – he ran for two kilometres to access a mobile 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 located 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 utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

The parent later explained that they were enjoying themselves when the young ones “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started floating away.

“It sort of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also referenced having to make “a terribly difficult call” to instruct her son to swim to land.

“I knew he was the strongest and he had the ability to succeed,” she commented.

The Rescue Effort

The boy explained being “completely out of breath”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first departed, the group 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 oversaw the operation said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was of the essence given how much time they had been in the water and with light running out.

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

The sergeant also commended how the teenager effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to identify the boards for the rescue team, the boy replied: “They were a green and white colour.”

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