We Require a Helicopter to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Aid Relatives Stranded Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee explains to the emergency operator, having swum four kilometres in choppy, open ocean and sprinting two kilometres to get assistance for his household.

The dispatcher asks how long has elapsed since he set off.

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

Emergency services have disclosed the recorded plea made previously after the boy departed from his relatives drifting at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

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

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he tells the operator.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been swept four kilometres out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum instructed him to set out and locate rescue, so the youth began, discarding first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

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

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the emergency services.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an medical help because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The family was on a break in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also spoke of having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to instruct her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the most capable and he was able to manage it,” she stated.

The Successful Mission

The youth recalled being “completely out of breath”.

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

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, ten hours after they first set out, the group were located and saved. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

The emergency call was shared with the mother’s permission.

A senior officer who managed the rescue mission said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was extremely pressing given how much time they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The commander also praised how the boy clearly relayed key facts.

When asked to detail the boards for the authorities, the youth 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 catch on the line. Because we caught one.”