We Must Have a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Relatives Adrift Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We became disoriented out there,” the teenager tells the emergency operator, after swimming 2.5 miles in choppy, open water and jogging 1.25 miles to secure help for his family.

The dispatcher questions how much time has gone by since he set off.

“[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 states.

Authorities have disclosed the recorded plea made previously after the youth left his relatives adrift at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His voice remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his fear for his family members.

“I don’t know what their state is right now, and I’m terrified,” he tells the person on the line.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The holidaymakers had been carried 4km out to sea in rough conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His parent urged him to set out and locate rescue, so the boy commenced, ditching first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After reaching land – four hours later – he sprinted for two kilometres to retrieve a 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 operator.

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an medical help because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Getaway in Peril

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

The mother later recalled that they were having fun when the kids “went out a bit too far”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

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

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

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy explained being “very puffed out”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at approximately 6pm.

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

The recording was shared with the parents' permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was absolutely critical given how much time they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What the boy did was incredibly brave. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The sergeant also highlighted how the youth clearly relayed key facts.

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

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