‘We Need a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Family Adrift Off Down Under Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim four kilometres in treacherous, the sea and jogging 2km to summon rescue for his kin.

The call taker questions how much time has passed since he began.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re far offshore. I think we must get a helicopter to search for them,” he states.

Authorities have released the recorded plea made in recent weeks after the youth departed from his loved ones floating at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His demeanour remains lucid and collected, even as he details his concern for his kin.

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

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been carried 4km out to sea in stormy conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother urged him to use his craft and find help, so the boy set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – four hours later – he ran for 1.25 miles to access 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 explains 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 exposure … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later described that they were enjoying themselves when the young ones “ventured out too far”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The mother also referenced having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to send her son to swim ashore.

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

The Rescue Effort

The boy explained being “very puffed out”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The distress call was made at approximately 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first departed, the family were found and brought to safety. They had been carried about 9 miles out to sea.

The audio was shared with the parents' permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the rescue mission said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

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

The commander also commended how the teenager effectively communicated key facts.

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

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