We Require a Chopper to Locate Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Relatives Adrift Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We became disoriented out there,” the teenager tells the emergency operator, after swimming 4km in rough, open ocean and sprinting 1.25 miles to get assistance for his kin.

The call taker questions how long has gone by since he set off.

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

Emergency services have made public the recorded plea made last month after the youth departed from his loved ones floating at sea off the WA coast to fetch help.

His voice remains clear and calm, even as he voices his worry for his kin.

“I have no idea about what their status is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the operator.

“Mum said go get help … We were in serious danger.”

The Dangerous Incident

The holidaymakers had been swept 4km out to sea in rough conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His mother urged him to set out and get assistance, so the teenager set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After reaching land – after an extensive period – he sprinted for 2km 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 tells the call handler.

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an medical help because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The group was on holiday in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later explained that they were having fun when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they were separated from their equipment, and started being carried out.

“It pretty much all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The mother also referenced having to make “a terribly difficult call” to ask her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy described being “very puffed out”.

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

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

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

The emergency call was made public with the parents' permission.

A forward commander who managed the rescue mission said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“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 highlighted how the teenager effectively communicated critical information.

When asked to identify the boards for the rescue team, the youth replied: “They were coloured green and white.”

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