We Must Have a Aircraft to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Distress Call to Rescue Family Lost Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager informs the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 4km in treacherous, open water and running 1.25 miles to get assistance for his kin.

The dispatcher questions how much time has passed since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we need a chopper to go find them,” he says.

Authorities have made public the emergency phone call made in recent weeks after the boy departed from his family adrift at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His voice remains steady and composed, even as he details his worry for his kin.

“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he informs the person on the line.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been pulled 4km out to sea in rough conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His parent instructed him to set out and locate rescue, so the teenager set off, ditching first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he ran for two kilometres to retrieve a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have younger siblings, 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 explain – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The family was on a break in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later described that they were playing around when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started floating away.

“It kind of all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she said.

The mother also described having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to instruct her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Rescue Effort

The youth recalled being “very puffed out”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, ten hours after they first departed, the family were spotted and rescued. They had floated about 9 miles out to sea.

The recording was shared with the family’s permission.

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

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

“What Austin did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a positive result.”

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

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the rescue team, the teenager said: “They were green and white.”

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