We Require a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Save Loved Ones Adrift Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We got lost out there,” the teenager informs the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 4km in rough, open ocean and sprinting 1.25 miles to get assistance for his kin.

The operator inquires how long has elapsed since he started out.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a chopper to go find them,” he says.

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

His voice remains lucid and collected, even as he details his worry for his family members.

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

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been pulled 2.5 miles out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother urged him to set out and get assistance, so the teenager commenced, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted for 1.25 miles to get to a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells the operator.

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

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

The woman later explained that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

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

The mother also spoke of having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to instruct her son to swim to land.

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

The Successful Mission

The teenager recalled being “extremely winded”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he said.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the stranded individuals were located and saved. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The emergency call was released with the parents' permission.

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

“They were in real trouble, and time was extremely pressing 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 remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The sergeant also highlighted how the youth clearly relayed critical information.

When asked to identify the equipment for the search crew, the youth said: “They were a green and white colour.”

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