‘We Need a Helicopter to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Loved Ones Stranded Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” the teenager explains to the emergency operator, following a swim 4km in choppy, open water and running 2km to summon rescue for his kin.

The call taker inquires how long has gone by since he started out.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we must get a helicopter to locate them,” he states.

Police have made public the emergency phone call made previously after the youth departed from his family floating at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his concern for his family.

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

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in grave peril.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been pulled 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His mum urged him to take his kayak and locate rescue, so the boy set off, discarding first his waterlogged vessel then his unwieldy PFD to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – after an extensive period – he sprinted for 2km to retrieve 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 states the emergency services.

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an medical help because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on vacation in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later described that they were playing around when the children “drifted further than intended”. 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 described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Successful Mission

The boy described being “extremely winded”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he recalled.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, ten hours after they first began, the group were spotted and rescued. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.

The recording was released with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who oversaw the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was of the essence given how long they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the teenager did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also commended how the boy effectively communicated critical information.

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

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