‘We Need a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Teenager’s Emergency Call to Aid Loved Ones Stranded Off Down Under Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the 000 call handler, after swimming four kilometres in rough, open water and sprinting 2km to summon rescue for his family.

The dispatcher asks how long has elapsed since he started out.

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

Police have made public the emergency phone call made last month after the boy departed from his relatives adrift at sea off the West Australian coast to fetch help.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he voices his worry for his family members.

“I am unsure of what their state is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the operator.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The holidaymakers had been swept 4km out to sea in rough conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His mum instructed him to set out and find help, so the boy commenced, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he ran for 2km to retrieve a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the call handler.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on a break in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later explained that they were playing around when the children “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

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

The parent also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to ask her son to swim to land.

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

The Search Operation

The youth recalled being “extremely winded”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he said.

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the family were spotted and rescued. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The emergency call was shared with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was extremely pressing given how much time they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a positive result.”

The sergeant also commended how the boy calmly conveyed critical information.

When asked to identify the paddleboards for the rescue team, the youth said: “They were a green and white colour.”

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