‘We Need a Aircraft to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Urgent Plea to Save Loved Ones Stranded Off Down Under Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” young Austin Appelbee informs the 000 call handler, following a swim 2.5 miles in rough, open water and sprinting 2km to get assistance for his kin.

The operator asks how much time has elapsed since he started out.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re far offshore. I think we require a chopper to go find them,” he reports.

Police have released the distress call made previously after the youth left his family adrift at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His demeanour remains lucid and collected, even as he voices his concern for his family members.

“I have no idea about what their state is right now, and I’m really scared,” he informs the person on the line.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in massive trouble.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been swept four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His parent asked him to use his craft and find help, so the teenager began, ditching first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he ran for 1.25 miles to get to 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 sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on vacation in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later described that they were having fun when the children “went out a bit too far”. The conditions worsened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

“It sort of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also spoke of 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 could do it,” she commented.

The Search Operation

The boy explained being “extremely winded”.

“I just keep swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he explained.

The emergency call was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first departed, the family were located and saved. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.

The emergency call was made public with the mother’s permission.

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

“They were in genuine danger, and time was extremely pressing given how much time they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What Austin did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a rescue.”

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

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the search crew, the teenager responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this rod, and there was a catch on the line. Because we caught one.”