We Require a Aircraft to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Aid Loved Ones Adrift Off Aussie Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager tells the 000 call handler, following a swim four kilometres in choppy, open water and running two kilometres to summon rescue for his family.

The operator questions how long has passed since he set off.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we must get a rescue aircraft to search for them,” he reports.

Emergency services have released the distress call made in recent weeks after the teen left his family drifting at sea off the Western Australian coast to find rescuers.

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

“I am unsure of what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the dispatcher.

“Mum said go get help … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

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

His parent asked him to use his craft and get assistance, so the youth set off, ditching first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he raced for two kilometres to get to a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, 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 add – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The holidaymakers was on vacation in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later recalled that they were having fun when the young ones “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started floating away.

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

The parent also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to ask her son to swim ashore.

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy recalled being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The call for help was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the group were spotted and rescued. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

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

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

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was extremely pressing given how long they had been in the water and with night approaching.

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

The commander also praised how the boy calmly conveyed key facts.

When asked to describe the equipment 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 line, and there was a fish on there. Since we caught one.”