‘We Need a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Distress Call to Aid Family Stranded Off Aussie Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager informs the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming four kilometres in choppy, open ocean and jogging 1.25 miles to summon rescue for his household.

The operator asks how much time has elapsed since he set off.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we need a chopper to search for them,” he reports.

Emergency services have made public the distress call made previously after the boy left his family adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

His tone remains clear and calm, even as he details his concern for his family.

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

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The holidaymakers had been swept four kilometres out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His parent instructed him to set out and locate rescue, so the youth began, discarding first his sinking craft then his unwieldy PFD to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – after an extensive period – he ran for two kilometres to access a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells the operator.

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The family was on holiday in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later described that they were having fun when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started being carried out.

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

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

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

The Successful Mission

The youth described being “completely out of breath”.

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

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

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

The audio was made public with the family’s permission.

A forward commander who managed the operation said the group was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was absolutely critical given how much time they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

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

The sergeant also commended how the boy clearly relayed vital details.

When asked to describe the paddleboards for the authorities, the boy said: “They were coloured green and white.”

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