‘We Need a Chopper to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Distress Call to Save Family Lost Off Down Under Coast Unveiled

“We became disoriented out there,” the teenager explains to the emergency operator, following a swim 2.5 miles in choppy, the sea and running 1.25 miles to get assistance for his kin.

The operator asks how long has passed since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we must get a helicopter to locate them,” he states.

Emergency services have released the recorded plea made last month after the boy departed from his relatives adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to find rescuers.

His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he voices his fear for his family.

“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the operator.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in grave peril.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The holidaymakers had been carried four kilometres out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum instructed him to set out and get assistance, so the youth set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his bulky flotation device to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – after an extensive period – he ran for 2km to get to a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have younger siblings, 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 heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The group was on vacation in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later explained that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started being carried out.

“It pretty much all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also spoke of having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to instruct her son to swim to land.

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

The Successful Mission

The teenager explained being “extremely winded”.

“I just continued swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the group were located and saved. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The recording was released with the family’s permission.

A police sergeant who managed the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was extremely pressing given how long they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What Austin did was incredibly brave. His bravery and courage in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a successful outcome.”

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

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the rescue team, the boy responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this fishing rod, and there was a fish hooked. As we managed to catch a fish.”