We Require a Chopper to Locate Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Aid Family Stranded Off Aussie Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the emergency operator, after swimming 4km in treacherous, open ocean and sprinting 1.25 miles to secure help for his kin.

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

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we need a chopper to go find them,” he says.

Emergency services have made public the recorded plea made previously after the teen left his loved ones adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he voices his concern for his family.

“I am unsure of what their status is right now, and I’m terrified,” he informs the dispatcher.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been swept 2.5 miles out to sea in stormy conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother asked him to use his craft and locate rescue, so the teenager began, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted for 2km to access a cell 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 emergency services.

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … 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, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later recalled that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The conditions worsened, they were separated from their equipment, and started floating away.

“It kind of all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she said.

The parent also described having to make “a terribly difficult call” to send her son to swim to land.

“I knew he was the best swimmer and he could do it,” she stated.

The Rescue Effort

The boy recalled being “completely out of breath”.

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

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, many hours after they first began, the family were found and brought to safety. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The recording 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 absolutely critical given how long they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the teenager did was truly remarkable. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also praised how the teenager effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the search crew, the boy said: “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 catch on the line. As we caught one.”